110 Marazzi
here and there sustain their dignity and role would ameliorate the realities that
Italian cities experienced in the 6th century. As La Rocca has wittily remarked,
one could say that “in order to make everything change, everything had to look
as if it was all the same.”31
This picture implies that, where possible, the Ostrogothic government
made (or at least claimed to have made) all possible efforts to keep the decus of
Italian cities alive. Of course the first place where the effects of this attention
would have been displayed was the seat of royal power, where the king resided.
Four letters of the Variae (1.6, 3.9, 3.10, 5.8) disclose how Theoderic had repeat-
edly ordered that marbles, stones, and other building materials should be
transported to Ravenna where they would have been reused for the restoration
of existing buildings or the erection of new ones. The opening sentence of let-
ter 1.6 clarifies what Theoderic had in mind. It states that it was the obligation
of the prince to contribute “to the enhancement of the State with the embel-
lishment of its palaces, obtained through new building endeavors”. In this
case, the king had ordered the prefect of Rome to send to Ravenna marmorarii
peritissimi, that is to say craftsmen specialized in the handling of marble, who
would restore a basilica dedicated to Hercules. On another occasion, the king
asks that columns and other precious stonework should be sent to the capital
from other Italian cities (including Rome) because he had become aware of
their disuse. To avoid misunderstandings, he stated that to raise new buildings
was as important as preserving old ones, for which reason modern construc-
tion should not be made through the mutilation of those already in existence
(Variae 3.9). But this stipulation could be circumvented if buildings had fallen
irrecoverably into ruin and their materials abandoned to evoke nothing but
sorrow and nostalgia for past grandeur. In such a case, it was appropriate for
the king to make all possible efforts so that “forgotten beauty” could be appre-
ciated again as ancient splendour.32 The rhetoric of these letters conceals the
pursuit of a very practical purpose and, at the same time, reveals that there
was a clear awareness of the long-term decay to which many cities had been
subjected.
The upkeep of the historical heritage represented a considerable challenge.
Everything around Italian cities spoke of the “past splendor” of the Empire’s
zenith when Italy had enjoyed a privileged fiscal regime that had allowed
local communities and their most affluent members to invest resources in the
“great beauty” of their cities. However, the monumentality of the past eventu-
ally became an unsustainable burden. Local councils of the 6th century had
31 La Rocca, “Una prudente maschera ‘Antiqua’ ”, p. 466.
32 Dubouloz, “Acception et défense”, pp. 53–74.