The paper focuses on using compressed-air foundations technology in Italy in the last three decades of the 19th century. The case study of the Tiber River embankments in Rome (1876-1900) reveals the significant application of the technique to construct retaining walls, exploiting iron caissons as excavation chambers. Furthermore, the case study discloses the transfer of knowledge in Italy and the innovative contribution of Italian construction companies and engineers to the international development of the technique. In this framework, applying the so-called ‘demountable caissons’ marked a significant step in perfecting the attempts conducted since the late 1850s to recover the iron used for constructing the caissons for future use. The study exploits the original design documents of the foundations of the Tiber retaining wall, conserved in the Archive of the Genio Civile of Rome, and an HBIM, functioning as an investigation tool and digital archive for educational purposes.
