Restauro e problemi di conservazione: la valle del Belice in Sicilia

In the 1980s, the Laboratories of Belice were a place of experimentation and validation of the compositional proposals of Italian architecture. Since then, the issues related to the approach followed have been very much discussed, especially those related to urban planning strategies established for the new town of Gibellina. However, the aspects related to the conservation and restoration project, on which this experience should have been founded, have not been treated yet, with the same care. Actually, followed the 1968 earthquake, the architects intervened in many ways on the surviving built heritage, stressing on formal and symbolical aspects, often forcing principles already consolidated in the Restoration Charters, or perhaps paying little attention to the architectural durability over time. For their different approach to memory and for the results in terms of ageing and material decay, the experiences carried out in Gibellina by Alberto Burri with the edification of the Cretto, by Ludovico Quaroni with the construction of the Chiesa Madre, by Francesco Venezia, Franco Purini and Laura Thermes, etc. need to be analyzed. In this sense, this paper aims to discuss the choices made in such examples of monumentality - almost contemporary archaeological sites - and their consequences in terms of functionality, structural behavior and maintenance needs, comparing them with other examples in which the conservation of the ruin coincides with the wish to preserve the memory of a natural (or intentional) destructive act.