Publishing date: 12 October 2026 Immagine notizia Immagine Paragrafo The volume Aedificia demoliri et marmora detrahere. Reimpiegare a norma di legge. La pratica dello spoglio e del reimpiego nel diritto romano e medievale has been published, edited by Maria Elena Gorrini, Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Pavia; Eleonora Destefanis, Professor of Late Antique and Medieval Archaeology at the University of Eastern Piedmont; and Paola Biavaschi, Professor of Roman Law at the University of Insubria. The book is published by LED Edizioni Universitarie in the Quaderni di Erga-Logoi series (no. 13, 2026).Who could authorise the demolition of a building in antiquity? What rules governed the recovery and reuse of marble, columns, capitals and other architectural materials? How were construction needs reconciled with the preservation of monuments and urban decorum? These are some of the questions explored in the volume, which examines a key phenomenon for understanding the transformation of cities from Roman times to the Middle Ages: the dismantling and reuse of materials from existing buildings and monuments. Long interpreted primarily as a sign of decline or impoverishment, the practice of reuse reveals a far more complex reality, in which economic and construction needs intersected with legal, political and cultural issues.Through contributions from 14 scholars, the volume compares legal sources, historical accounts and archaeological evidence to reconstruct the changing regulatory framework governing the demolition of buildings and the recovery and reuse of their materials.The publication stems from research conducted within the 2022 PRIN PNRR project “Pierres errantes. Stones' Journeys from Classical Antiquity to Middle Ages, from Eastern Mediterranean to the Alps”, involving the University of Pavia, the University of Eastern Piedmont and the Brera Academy of Fine Arts.The book offers an interdisciplinary interpretation of the reuse of building materials, considering it not merely as a material practice but also as a phenomenon governed by law and closely linked to transformations in society and the built heritage.The topic also resonates with the present, raising questions that remain relevant today about the relationship between the conservation, transformation and enhancement of cultural heritage.The volume is available online.Printed copies will be available from 30 October 2026.