Il Waterfront di Messina. Maregrosso, cuore della città, tra evoluzione e involuzione

The history of Messina is closely linked to the sea that has always been its pulsating heart and the crossroad of life and trade. The establishment of ferry-boats since 1899 to create a permanent link with Calabria, significantly modified its urban layout. The new manufacturing and commercial city will expand southward along the railway, causing profound changes in the use of properties on the edge of the docks and along the seafront, which will become increasingly generic and different from the original ones. The ancient places of work, such as Maregrosso historically the core of commerce and sociality, will suffer the consequences of such transformations, becoming non-lieux, rich in contradictions, poor in meanings and identity. This area, of great naturalistic value, once vivacious and energetic, today is affected by neglect and incivility, and only sustained by the action of associations of citizens and the cultural and creative work of young professionals who strive for its recovery.