33

Excavations on the Palatine hill led by Pietro Rosa for Napoleon III (1861-1870) are not well documented. P. Rosa did not keep a regular scientific diary of his work, but sent his documents to Paris, including plans, drawings, watercolours, and even original sculptures; his correspondence with Léon Renier was published by M. A. Tomei. Afterwards, the excavations’ original plans, drawn by P. Rosa himself, were reproduced using photographs. Following a long and difficult research period, these plans, which were considered lost, have just recently been recovered in the archives of the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris.