PA RT H I C A
I N C O N T R I D I C U LT U R E N E L M O N D O A N T I C O
Fondatore della rivista / Journal founder Antonio Invernizzi
Direttore / Editor in chief Carlo Lippolis
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INC ONTRI DI CULTURE NEL MONDO ANTIC O
21 · 2019
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S O M M A R I O
Olivier Lecomte (23/06/1949 - 15/01/2019) 9
Kazim Abdullaev, Symbols associated with temples and altars in the Middle East and Iran 11 Nikolaus Leo Overtoom, A Reconsideration of Mithridates II’s Early Reign: A “Savior” Restores
the Eastern Frontier of the Parthian Empire 43
Roberta Menegazzi, Beyond terracotta: observations on the bone and stone figurines from Seleucia
on the Tigris 57
Eleonora Pappalardo, Vito Messina, The Maenad and the muse connectivity and appropri-
ation of models in Hellenizing Mesopotamia and Parthia. Two case-studies from Seleucia on the
Tigris and Old Nisa 67
Wathiq Al-Salihi, Remarks on the plan of the Temple of the Triad at Hatra 83 Carlo Lippolis, Le acque di Nisa - Mitridatocerta (Turkmenistan) 89 Carlo Lippolis, Muhammed Mamedov, Jacopo Bruno, Giacomo Patrucco, Prelim-
inary note on the 2019 archaeological campaign of the Italian-Turkmen archaeological expedition
to Old Nisa (Turkmenistan) 115
Eleonora Pappalardo, Il viaggio del Centauro. Arcesilao e la circolazione di modelli fra oriente
e occidente 127
Yousef Moradi, Epigraphical and iconographical analysis of a Parthian bas-relief from Javanroud,
Western Iran (with a note on the inscription by Seiro Haruta) 143 Sören Stark, Djamal Mirzaakhmedov, Fiona Kidd, Siroj Mirzaakhmedov, New finds
of terracotta figurines from Western (Bukharan) Sogdiana 159 Yousef Moradi, Matteo Compareti, A Sasanian figured relief plaque from Taq-e Bostan 179
P R E L I M I NA RY N OT E
O N T H E 2019 A RC H A E O LO G I C A L C A M PA I G N
O F T H E I TA L I A N - T U R K M E N
A RC H A E O LO G I C A L E X P E D I T I O N TO O L D N I S A
( T U R K M E N I S TA N )
Carlo Lippolis* · Muhammed Mamedov**
Jacopo Bruno*** · Giacomo Patrucco****
Abstract · In the framework of the Agreement signed between the Ministry of Culture of Turkmenistan and the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino (crast), the work on the field of the joint Italian-Turkmen Archaeological Expedition to Nisa was resumed in September 2019. Four areas were investigated: two soundings were opened near the southern corner of the site (Area K), excavation works were resumed in pit US667 (south-western corner of the site), a small trench was excavated between the Red Building and the South-Western Complex (Area L) and a trench previously dug by the JuTAKE (season 1956) in the north-ern corner of the site was expanded with a new sounding.
Keywords: Old Nisa (Turkmenistan), Parthia, Arsacid architecture.
n September-October 2019 the archaeological activities of the Italian-Turkmen Archaeological Expedition to Old Nisa (Fig. 1) were resumed: two soundings were opened near the southern corner of the site (Area K1 and K2), the excavation of pit US667 (a water system located in the south-western corner of the site) was resumed, a small sounding was opened between the Red Building and the South-Western Complex (Area L) and, finally, a trench previously excavated by the JuTAKE was cleaned, expanded and further excavated.
1. Southern Area - Sector K
Two soundings (K1 and K2) were opened in the southern part of the site, between two sectors ex-cavated during the 2007 season, Sector A and Sector C (Fig. 1).1 The choice to focus on this area was motivated by the will to clarify its characteristics as well as the layout of a portion of the site that during the previous campaigns had seemed completely devoid of monumental structures. Since satellite images showed some alignments north of Tower n. 25, in the southern corner of the site, it was initially hypothesized that this area could conceal structural remains comparable to those excavated in the south-western portion of Old Nisa (“South-Western Building” and “Eastern Building”).2 Unfortunately, this hypothesis was disproved, as this area, like the other sectors inves-tigated in 2007, appears to have been left unbuilt during the Parthian period.
Two parallel soundings measuring ca. 9 × 4 m each, K1 and K2, were excavated in Sector K (Fig. 2). After the removal of the topsoil, the excavations revealed a 20-30 cm thick layer of clay and
* [email protected], Università degli Studi di Torino (Dipartimento di Studi Storici) e Centro Ricerche Archeolo-giche e Scavi di Torino (crast).
** [email protected], National Department of Pro-tection, Research and Restoration of Historical and Cultural Sites (ndpsr) of the Ministry of Culture of Turkmenistan. *** [email protected], Italian-Turkmen Archae-ological Expedition in Parthian Nisa.
**** [email protected], Politecnico di Torino (Dipartimento di Architettura e Design).
Paragraph 1 and Fig. 7 by Jacopo Bruno; paragraphs 2, 3, 4 by Carlo Lippolis and Muhammed Mamedov; paragraph 5 by Giacomo Patrucco; Conclusions by Carlo Lippolis.
1 Lippolis, Messina 2008, 53-55. 2 Lippolis 2013.
https://doi.org/10.19272/201903501008 · «parthica», 21, 2019
116 Carlo Lippolis · Muhammed Mamedov · Jacopo Bruno · Giacomo Patrucco
Preliminary note on the 2019 season of the Italian-Turkmen expedition to Old Nisa 117
pebbles with mixed Parthian and Islamic pottery and few fragments of completely deteriorated mudbricks or pakhsa (US1).3 This layer covered the top of an artificial levelling made of clay and gravel (US3), incorporating scarce and much-abraded potsherds.
The lower part of the levelling consists of a thick layer of clay, pebbles and stones about 80 cm deep (US4), resting directly on the virgin soil. A few potsherds were found in the uppermost 10-20 cm of this layer, confirming its anthropic origin.
The ceramic material retrieved from the different layers is strongly abraded and worn, testifying to its long depositional history. Most of the fragments can be dated to the Parthian period, except for a few potsherds found in the upper layers and probably associated to later periods. Only few of the sherds are diagnostic and they mainly belong to common shapes such as big storage jars (khums) found elsewhere on the site and related to the ceramic complex of the Parthian period.4
2. South-Western Area - Sector I
During the previous seasons (2008-2015), the activities conducted by the Italian-Turkmen Archae-ological Expedition concentrated in the south-western part of Old Nisa. Here, a monumental com-pound of a primarily functional nature (ca. 85 × 60 m; Fig. 1) leaning against the fortification walls was brought to light.5 The so-called “South-Western Building”, a large complex including food stor-age facilities and productive areas, consists of a courtyard surrounded by rooms differing in size and functions. The building has the shape of a square or, rather, a parallelogram that perfectly adapts to
3 These traces of mudbricks or pakhsa may be the rem-nants of a few small structures similar to those unearthed in the nearby trenches (Sector A).
4 Pilipko 2001, figg. 213-214; Cellerino 2008, fig. 297.
5 The compound brought to the light in the south-western corner of Old Nisa is here indicated as “south-western com-plex”, and includes the South-Western Building and the East-ern Building (see further). Lippolis 2013; Lippolis, Manas-sero 2015.
118 Carlo Lippolis · Muhammed Mamedov · Jacopo Bruno · Giacomo Patrucco
the natural conformation of the hill and to the space defined by the fortification walls. Another construction (the “Eastern Building”) is adjacent to this main quadrangular building, to the East, and was likely built during a later phase.
In the 2014 and 2015 campaigns, a complex water storage and supply system (hereby re-ferred to as “water system”) was discovered and partly excavated below the latest pavement of the South-Western Building, in the south-west-ern corner of its main courtyard.6 The function-ing and precise purposes of this system remain to be further investigated. At the moment, it is possible to reconstruct a large rectangular pit of about 2.5/3 m of width and 20 m of length. The pit was excavated directly in the bedrock (natu-ral virgin soil) of Old Nisa; indeed, no mudbrick structures are attested here.
A 50-70 cm large descending stairway or ramp divided in four sets of steps is cut in the bedrock against the western wall of the pit, leading to its bottom from the courtyard level. The pit itself is divided in four sections (“steps”) by large plat-forms, measuring 2,5 m in width, 4,5 m in length and 2,30 m in height.7 These four sections pres-ent similar features and each one of them is characterized by two symmetrical rectangular niches on the walls (on the eastern and western sides of the pit), a deep well cut in the bedrock and, at the southern end, a raised ledge coated in a thin stratum of gypsum, with a terracotta tile placed in its south-eastern corner. To the south, the bottom of the pit opens up into a grotto that is connected to the surface (at courtyard level) through another well. All these features and the specific organization of this construction must have been related to specific functions that, at pres-ent, are difficult to define. However, the most plausible reconstruction involves the use of this sys-tem to supply water: the large platforms and associated wells were probably all connected to the water table, as the water level in ancient times was likely higher than it is today. It can also be hy-pothesized that the pit served as a drainage and storage facility for the rainwater collected during winter and spring. Finally, it is likely that a drain cut into the bedrock in the central courtyard of the building (and brought to light during the 2013 season) once conveyed water from this area to the pit/wells.
During the 2019 excavations the lower (fourth) platform was partly cleared (Fig. 3), but the re-moval of the deposit filling the grotto (where the water system likely ends and from which it was possible to reach the water table directly) was not completed: a heap of soil about 5 m thick and 4.5 m high still remains in place and is difficult to remove for structural and safety reasons.
The above-mentioned water system is a complex and interesting structure, without parallel so far. According to our preliminary observations, it was likely in use at the time of the first building activ-ities in Old Nisa (encompassing the construction of the fortification walls and possibly of the first structures) and, maybe, during the first phase of life of the south-western complex. Then, it is
pos-6 See Lippolis in this volume. 7 Ibidem, Figg. 13-16.
Fig. 3. Sector I - US667, floor level of the fourth platform (“step”) with well in the bedrock and niche on the eastern wall.
Preliminary note on the 2019 season of the Italian-Turkmen expedition to Old Nisa 119 sible that as the water table became less and less
easy to reach, the pit was filled up with soil and debris, fragments of pottery, broken decorative architectural elements and other discarded ma-terial (stucco fragments, animal bones etc … ).
During the archaeological campaign a series of orthophotos were taken in order to elaborate a 3D model of the 3rd and 4th platforms of the pit (see the technical note by G. Patrucco below).
3. Sector L
Sector L is located 30 m to the south of the southern façade of the Red Building. During the 2019 season, a small sounding of 5 × 6 m was opened in this area in order to investigate the or-ganization of the space between the central
monumental complex and the South-Western Building (Fig. 1). This sector, located immediately to the east of the western fortification walls, had never been excavated before due to the presence of a large spoil heap accumulated during previous excavations in the Round Hall.
Excavations in this area reached a depth of about 2 m below the surface and no considerable traces of structures emerged. The archaeological deposit returned potsherds of the Islamic period (glazed ware) down to a depth of 1,4 m. Despite the total absence of walls or bricks from collapsed structures, two khums were found 2,2 m below the topsoil (Fig. 4). These two large jars are stuck in the virgin soil, consistently with the customary traditions of Nisa. Between the margins of the cut in the ground and the jar runs a 4-5 cm thick layer of gypsum mixed with clay, probably aimed at insulating and fixing the container. The jars were not excavated internally but, judging from the visible diameter of their lower portion (that stuck in the ground), they are preserved for half of their height. However, what is important to note is that the presence of these khums seems to con-firm that this part of the site was not an open area and, therefore, it was not completely free from constructions. It is indeed probable that structures with the function of warehouses were located in this sector, in line with the southern limit of the Round Hall (defined by a corridor).
At the moment it is not possible to establish whether these storage facilities (?) were part of the South-Western Building8 that therefore extended to this sector, or if they were related to the central monumental complex (i.e. Red Building, Round Hall), thus connecting it to the south-western complex.
4. Northern Area - Sector M
Sector M is located at the northern corner of Old Nisa. A trench of abound 6 × 8 m had already been opened in this area by the JuTAKE expedition under the direction of M.S. Merščev, in 1956. However, the results of this excavation remain unpublished. V.N. Pilipko published a short descrip-tion and a schematic plan of the sounding illustrating the point where two large walls form a corner, alongside two stratigraphic sections.9 Nevertheless, the soviet trench was too small to pro-vide a reliable interpretation of these structures that most certainly belong to the Parthian period.
In reason of the location of this area in the northern corner of the site, in direct association with the fortification walls, and considering the thickness of the walls exposed by the JuTAKE, the Ita-lian-Turkmen expedition decided to clean the old trench and expand it to the north, west and east, bringing it to a total extension of 12 × 15 m (Fig. 5).
8 The 2014 and 2015 excavations of this building stopped about 15 m south of Sector L, but its northern limit or façade was never identified.
9 Pilipko 2001, 79, fig. 61 and footnote 67.
Fig. 4. Sector L - Large jars (khums) sunk in the virgin soil.
120 Carlo Lippolis · Muhammed Mamedov · Jacopo Bruno · Giacomo Patrucco
An east-west orientated large mudbrick wall (M1), excavated for a total length of around 8 m is visible on the northern side of the sounding. It is more than 3,5 m thick, but the northern limit of the sounding does not allow, for the moment, to ascertain its precise size. The wall is built with well-made mudbricks (dim. 41 × 41 cm) made of light brown clay and laid in alternate courses of square-shaped whole bricks and rectangular-shaped half bricks.
Along its western side, and against the northern section of the sounding, a greenish stone torus belonging to a column base (diam. 65 cm) was brought to light. At present it is not clear if this col-umn lays in its original place (in situ), therefore potentially indicating the northern limit of wall M1,
Preliminary note on the 2019 season of the Italian-Turkmen expedition to Old Nisa 121 or if it was reused and then discarded here in
ancient times (Fig. 6).10 It has to be noted that the presence of this torus here is quite unex-pected: it lays in the proximity or over the sup-posed northern face of wall M1 (not far from the fortification line) and at a level about 1 m higher than that of the pavement in the central and southern parts of the sounding.11 Only the progress of the excavations will allow us to es-tablish whether it is an isolated element or it is connected to other structures located nearby. On the opposite (eastern) side, M1 forms a corner with another large wall, M2: this is a north-south orientated wall, about 3 m thick. M2 is preserved for all the length of the sound-ing, although it is cut by the soviet trenches in two points at its southern and northern ends. Another alignment consisting of three rows of bricks (M4?) was brought to light immedi-ately to the east of M2. According to the soviet plan of the sounding, these bricks should be-long to wall M2 or to another wall leaning against it (maybe built in a second moment). At present, the excavation only exposed the top of the preserved walls and further investigation is needed in order to better understand the rela-tion between these structures. As a matter of fact, though, it can be said that if this masonry
(M2+M4) represents a single wall, the structure in question was characterized by a considerable width.
The southern limit of the sounding is marked by the presence of another wall, M3. This is thinner than the others, apparently being about 1,70 m thick. Moreover, it is interesting to note that it is built with a different kind of bricks made of reddish clay, less solid and compact and more badly preserved compared to the bricks used for M1 and M2. The structures in this part of the sounding were subjected to stronger erosion phenomena.
The three walls, M1-M2 and M3, seem to define a large space (room 1) in the central part of the sounding, whose floor level was detected at a depth of about 1,30 m from the top of the walls.
Except for the stone base (torus), no other significant findings come from the sounding: the scar-city of pottery (Fig. 7) and other finds is not surprising since the area had already been partially ex-cavated by the JuTAKE expedition and the recent Italian-Turkmen excavation only reached its superficial levels.
It is still too early to speculate about the destination and the nature of this building in the north-ern corner of Old Nisa and, despite its enlargement, the surface covered by the sounding at the mo-ment remains too limited to allow an even partial plan reconstruction. Since the above-mo-mentioned construction is positioned very close to the northern fortification walls, the presence of a building
10 At Nisa, the stone column bases were generally used during the oldest building phase (later replaced by column bases made of baked bricks); several of these bases, however, were reused in the rooms of the Northern complex (for example in the Square House), in the central monumental
complex and in the Eastern Building of the South-Western complex.
11 At present, the floor level was reached only in a deep trench dug in the middle of the sounding (already excavated by the soviet archaeologists).
Fig. 6. Sector M from north (in the foreground the stone column torus).
122 Carlo Lippolis · Muhammed Mamedov · Jacopo Bruno · Giacomo Patrucco
or structure connected to the defensive system or destined to host the army (or its commander) can be hypothesized here. On the one hand the marked thickness of the walls could confirm this inter-pretation; on the other hand, the absence of collapsed masonry (no mudbricks were registered in the filling of the sounding) is difficult to explain. It cannot be excluded that the large structures so
Fig. 7. Pottery from Sector M: grey-black ware (1-4), common ware (5-11), cooking ware (12) (drawings Jacopo Bruno).
Preliminary note on the 2019 season of the Italian-Turkmen expedition to Old Nisa 123 far exposed were aimed at providing structural reinforcement to the fortification walls or were part of a platform leaning against them. One of the future goals of the Italian-Turkmen expedition is to continue the works in this area in order to clarify the nature of its structural remains.
5. Technical note about the 3D model of the water system and Sector M In order to provide a proper metric documentation of the water system (US667 – Sector I) and ob-tain an accurate and measurable three-dimensional model, a complete photogrammetric survey has been carried out. A photogrammetric image-based approach is particularly indicated in the framework of Cultural Heritage and archaeological documentation,12 since it provides to the op-erators valuable information not only about the geometry of the surveyed object, but also about the radiometry (and therefore about the consistency and the materials); in this way the user is fa-cilitated during the interpretation phase of the metric product.
In this case the high-resolution images (6000 × 4000 pixels) have been acquired with a mirrorless camera (model fujifilm x-e3) equipped with a 15-45 mm lens and mounted on a telescopic pole, in order to collect nadiral images of the upper part of the structure and frontal images of the higher part of the walls of the pit US667 (in this case the camera has been configured with a forward asset). The lower part of the water system have been acquired using a traditional close-range photogram-metry approach with the aim to cover all the surfaces of the structure.
A total of 253 digital images have been collected (this high number of images is required due to the morphological complexity of the surveyed structure, which is disposed on more levels with different heights).
The acquired digital images have been processed with a commercial photogrammetric Struc-ture-from-Motion-based (SfM) software (Agisoft Metashape) following a standard workflow:13 – Automatic matching of the homologous points.
– Relative orientation of the images and tie points extraction (Fig. 8).
– Densification of the point cloud through image-matching algorithms (Fig. 9). – Triangulated Irregular Network (tin) generation.
– Orthophoto and Digital Surface Model generation.
In order to provide a metric control of the final results, 14 checkboard targets have been placed on the surfaces of the structure and then measured with traditional topographic method (by using a total station).
During the processing of the images, 9 have been used as GCPs and 5 as CPs. In Table 1 it is poss-ible to observe the accuracy check of the obtained results; in Table 2 are reported some details about the photogrammetric process and the obtained dense point cloud.
Tab. 1. Metric control of the photogrammetric dataset.
Tab. 2. Main details of the photogrammetric process.
12 Chiabrando et alii 2018. 13 Ewertowski et alii 2019.
RMSE [m] X Y Z Total GCPs (9) 0.006 0.004 0.007 0.010 CPs (5) 0.005 0.004 0.007 0.010 Nº of images Extimated gsd [mm/px] Nº of tie points Nº of points of dense point cloud 253 0.8 538,002 47,416,679
124 Carlo Lippolis · Muhammed Mamedov · Jacopo Bruno · Giacomo Patrucco
Also in the case of Sector M a photogrammetric approach has been applied. 313 high-resolution digi-tal images (6000 × 4000 pixels) have been acquired with the same mirrorless camera previously used (model fujifilm x-e3) equipped with a 15-45 mm lens.
Thanks to the use of the telescopic pole nadiral and oblique images of the area have been col-lected from an elevated point of view in order to acquire both horizontal and vertical surfaces of
Fig. 8. Sector I - US667. Relative orientation of the images and tie points extraction.
Preliminary note on the 2019 season of the Italian-Turkmen expedition to Old Nisa 125 the excavation, following the well-known photogrammetric acquisition principles14 and paying par-ticular attention to images overlapping, to facilitate the automatic matching of homologous points during the data processing phase. The area covered during the survey is approximately 500 m2.
The same operative workflow previously described has been followed (also in this case the images have been processed with the SfM-based software Agisoft Metashape, following the steps observed in the previous section).
In order to guarantee metric control of the obtained 3D model, checkboard markers have been previously placed on the surfaces of the area (distributed homogeneously) and measured with a total station from a known coordinate vertex of the topographical network of the site of Old Nisa. A total of 17 points have been measured. These points have been employed in the bundle block adjustment during the processing of the acquired dataset, 11 as Ground Control Points (GCPs) and 6 as Check Points (CPs). In Table 3 below are reported the mean error after the bundle block adjustment.
Tab. 3. Metric control of the photogrammetric dataset.
After the photogrammetric process a dense point cloud (constituted by 42,215,841 points) has been generated, with a Ground Sampling Distance (gsd) less than 2 mm/px.
From the coloured point cloud a TIN has been triangulated, composed by 3 millions of triangles, then an orthophoto of the area and a Digital Surface Model (dsm) have been produced (Plate ii, a-d).
Table 4. Main details of the photogrammetric process.
6. Conclusions
The 2019 season allowed the definitive confirmation of some hypotheses and the validation of pre-viously collected data. Despite its extension, the southern corner of the citadel of Old Nisa (area K) seems devoid of large built complexes, except for some structures (likely military barracks) along the fortification walls. It can be assumed that an artificially levelled expanse paved with pebbles served here both as a storage space (as traces of a khum stuck directly into the natural soil found during the 2007 excavation seem to indicate) and open space (possibly for military purposes). How-ever, it cannot be excluded that other military and multi-purpose facilities were located against the southern line of fortification walls.
Inside the South-Western Building, the excavation of the water system US667 was carried out up to a depth of about 12 m below the surface. The operations inside of the grotto at the end of the system were interrupted due to operational difficulties. This water supply system is an interesting and so far unique structure that needs to be further investigated and interpreted, but it can be
as-14 Samaan et alii 2013. RMSE [m] X Y Z Total GCPs (11) 0.004 0.007 0.005 0.008 CPs (6) 0.006 0.004 0.007 0.008 Nº of images Extimated gsd [mm/px] Nº of tie points Nº of points of dense point cloud 313 1.17 1,225,429 42,215,841
126 Carlo Lippolis · Muhammed Mamedov · Jacopo Bruno · Giacomo Patrucco
sumed that it was employed at the very beginning of the development of the settlement inside the citadel and that it remained in use for a long time. It can be postulated that during the second main building phase of Old Nisa, the water system was filled up with soil and debris, as the access to the water table likely became more and more difficult. On the top of the pit, now completely covered, new rooms were built inside the courtyard of the South-Western Building.
No mudbrick structure has been registered in Sector L so far, but the presence of the khums stuck in the ground suggests that this area was not completely empty and it is therefore interesting to understand if and how the central monumental complex was connected to the south-western area through a series of storehouses.
In Sector M, at the northern corner of Old Nisa, a new complex was detected during the 2019 season. Although it is too early to provide an even partial layout or interpretation of the structures, the walls identified and exposed in this sector are remarkably large and thick. It seems likely that this area hosted constructions (but not simply barracks) connected to the fortification walls or di-rectly linked with the northern bastion.
Following the practice adopted in the previous campaigns, care was taken by the Italian-Turkmen expedition in the conservation of the excavated mudbrick structures of Old Nisa. Some interven-tion had already been carried out in the Round Hall between 2018 and 2019, with a structural con-solidation of this important monument aimed at preventing collapses following the heavy rainfalls of last winter and spring. The inside of the western wall of the Round Hall and the roofing of its north-western entrance were reinforced after they had almost entirely collapsed after the rainfalls of spring 2019.
At the end of the expedition, other urgent interventions concerning the internal walls of the Red Building (eastern wall of the central tetrastyle hall and eastern wing of the façade portico) were discussed with the architects of the NDPSR and their completion planned for before the beginning of the rainy season.
Finally, the structures excavated in Sector M that need to be further investigated in the next sea-sons were temporarily covered with a thick stratum of mud plaster and soil.
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192 Pl. ii. C. Lippolis, M. Mamedov, J. Bruno, G. Patrucco
Pl. ii. (a) Dense point cloud of sector M; (b) Texturized 3D model of sector M; (c) Orthophoto of sector M; (d) dsm of sector M.
co m p o sto i n c a r att e r e s e r r a da n t e da l la fa b r i z i o s e r r a e d i to r e, p i s a · ro m a .
sta m pato e r i l e gato n e l la
t i p o g r a f i a d i ag na n o, ag na n o p i s a n o ( p i s a ) . *
Novembre 2019