Conservation and valorization strategies for the recovery of Vulcania shopping centre in Catania

Nowadays we are witnessing more and more frequently the phenomenon of abandonment or dismantling of large commercial buildings created within the consolidated city and made obsolete by the creation of new shopping malls in the suburbs, such as the Vulcania department store established in Catania, Italy, in 1987. The complex – considered by the municipal administration of the time as a powerful catalyst of economic resources - following the crisis that hit the country in the 90s, has fallen into a state of growing neglect. The excessive costs of maintenance and rent of the shops have caused the closure of the commercial activities transforming the interesting and innovative reinforced concrete structure into a degraded skeleton. For its architectural and environmental interest and for the role that this place could still play from the social and relational point of view, this work intends to propose new forms of revitalization and regeneration.