by Architect Angelo SANGIOVANNI
translation by Dr Marianna ADDESSO
Newton's
first law, also called "law of inertia" stases that a body
will continue in its state of rest or uniform motion unless an
external force intervenes to change that state. This external
force, on Sunday, November 23, 1980, at 19:34, was an earthquake of
magnitude 6.9 on the Richter scale which intervened to change both
the rest of the life of urban residents belonging to the territory
that extends from Irpinia to Vulture, placed between the provinces of
Avellino, Salerno and Potenza and the uniform rectilinear motion of
their economy, mainly based on agriculture and pastoralism. I think
that what was lost in those few minutes, and in the following years,
is priceless and I do not think it just because I am "an
insider." I'm afraid that the laudable, but belated endeavor to
think about legislation and strategies to prevent the abandonment of
the historic centers of the municipalities in Campania is not
enought. Otherwise I think that , in a more realistic way, in order
to fix the mistakes made, and to overcome the disinterest of the fate
of our town centers and their relentless and progressive
deterioration, initiatives needed to bring back people to their
internal. Not deport them, pay attention, having brainwaves and
building tenements in the old centers without first having made them
livable, but entice them to come back with equally strong and
attractive actions of those used to force them to abandon such as
living adjustment as a function of the household. To really get a
result in the work of restoration of historical centers, value and
dignity must be recognized to the vernacular buildings (houses, for
instance), so as to be able to support the recovery of the entire
core and not only of the historical architecture (buildings,
monasteries, castles, and so on). In second instance, indeed, choices
will work according to the existence or not of such architectural
emergencies that need to be seen as an added value and not as a
single value. This way of thinking, in my opinion, has determinated
the irretrievable, at time, loss of a large part of what is now, in
hindsight, aims to revive. What follows, more than an historical or
worse: a "J'accuse" to the politicians of that period, is
an act of love to the relic of our past and an attempt to awaken
interest in these places in the minds of young people,
places which are the places of our history and of our memory and
because, as rightly said C. N. Shulze: "Only when we understand
our place we will be able to participate creatively to their
history". Whta follows is also an invitation to the politicians
of today to look at the past mistakes to avoid committing them again
and , otherwise, for working seriously to recover the recoverable,
before it all goes and be hopelessly lost like tears in rain. These
are also the reasons why I wanted to make the recovery of historic
centers, the topic of my thesis to the course on "The protection
and enhancement of Cultural Heritage and Environment", in the
firm conviction that people without a past have no future.
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From Cosmos to Chaos: the loss of the identity
"when you get there, there is no more a there, there. "
The
ancient Romans believed in the existence of supernatural entity
called Genius Loci and it was, according to their beliefs, linked to
the places inhabited and frequented by man. The genius loci was then,
the patron deity of a particular place and at the same time that of
all those who lived or were even just passing through and for this
reason it would be found wherever they perceive the presence of a
superior entity that protect.
C.N.
Schulz was the first to talk about Genius Loci in Architecture,
alluding to the specific character of a place rather than another,
that set of characteristics of a specific environment that interact
with the man who lives and influences in his way to live it.
Architecture, as an act of man in shaping the environment transforms
a territory in a place, must operate in its utmost respect,
integrating well with the place itself (2) was intended by us as
invariants architectural models of the Vallo di Diano and the
neighboring towns of Lucania. This was made impossible by the Special
Law 219/1981 which triggered a perverse mechanism to reward the
demolition and rebuilding from scratch, so going to the expense of
possible and desirable intervention on the existing housing stock.
Citizens choosing to demolish and rebuild elsewhere, so as to be able
to enjoy the benefits of living under the so-called adjustment
depending on the family, which included the possibility of more floor
space, gave rise to a progressive and inexorable abandonment of
historic centers. Another major decision about the smaller towns was
taken with the Law 187/1982, which took away any chance for the
Superintendence of safeguarding the assets of smaller privat
considering it, too easily, manageable from any person and,at the
same time, was given to the local administrators the power to cause
more damage to what had survived the earthquake. Shortsighted
administrations either by choice or because culturally unprepared, in
fact, and unable to grasp the complex value of pre-existing and
stratification, further damaged the fabric of many historic centers
through demolitions often indiscriminate and perhaps not always
dictated by necessity. Solemn spaces,created ad hoc, were essential
to leave their mark on the land (3). In Atena Lucana, as well as
elsewhere, the directors but also a large part of the population
thought that in the end there was nothing that had real value,
nothing that is truly "art" and worth saving. "Nothing
to invest time and money" ignoring the fact that a community
that denies or forgets its past has no future and that tradition is
something that goes beyond the aesthetic end in itself: a way of
thinking son of our disposable culture, influenced heavily by the
fads of the moment and therefore ephemeral. The tradition is however,
stratification, persistence and enduring reality that derive from a
complex relationship between people and things, from
relationships that develop thanks to the creation of spaces for its
size, expanded when needed and as required, never artificially
dilated up to dangerously lose control. The tradition was born and
has been handed down in places that encourage aggregation and where
easily interwoven ties archaic born feelings, emotions, knowledge and
solidarity among the different generations. In Athena Lucana as
elsewhere, this and much more was forgotten in those years. This and
much more was lost with the de-recognition of a historical and
architectural heritage of great environmental value and that with his
absence, now more then makes us feel a strong feeling that "when
you get there, there is no more there, there" (4). After the
earthquake of 1980, in fact, Atena Lucana, as for many of the smaller
towns affected by the event, began the process that would lead
inexorably to its loss of identity.
An
announced danger, however, at least for me, since the beginning of
1983, when ingenuous attempt to salvage, I involvedwho was then my
professor of Environmental Design and my fellow student at the
Faculty of Architecture in Florence in a study aimed to
the identification and recovery of the archetype (5) was
intended by us as invariants architectural models of the Vallo di
Diano and the neighboring towns of Lucania. I tried the
identification and recovery of those basic elements that persist
throughout the centuries and that interact with the way of life and
traditions, but at the same time in order to survive in new contexts,
require new interpretations to be passed. At the end of the research,
lasted almost two years, what was immediately clear was that the
unified framework of real needs and design appropriate responses
emerged from the study of the patterns of the past, it was suddenly
and dangerously lost and no one was able to understand that what
architecture differs from the other arts, is that the architectural
structures have a specific use and for this reason, unlike works from
artistic expressions that arise for the sole purpose contemplative or
decorative, the implementation of an architecture is always and
however determined by the need to satisfy a requirement. The
architecture, you should not ever forget it, it is an outlet for
directors, designers and clients with delusions of grandeur, but it
is a consistent technical response to the real needs of man, for
housing. After the earthquake of November 1980, it comes a climate in
which the most were convinced that the past had to be scrapped and so
they rid it as you get rid of an old junk piled up in the attic
worthless, sure to have thrown a useless ballast that would have
slowed the race for the future. The lack of any connection to the
past and therefore the impossibilirty to do this the bridge between
this and the future, as well as an idea of urban uniform, was behind
the creation of a series of "non-places" (6)
A
place is an asset and as such should be used, because like anything
else that is not used sooner or later dies and a place dies because
it loses its enjoyment, whatever it is, and the life in which it
takes place dies too, because is its use to ensure the ongoing
maintenance and preservation. The street life, the one lived in the
square on the benches rather with the chair on the sidewalk or on the
steps of an entrance of a house or a church, however, the one that
allowing close contact with the passer-man, that so lively and active
in my childhood memories, in Atena Lucana as elsewhere, has now lost
almost everything and this because even before we lost the places of
these events. Even before we lost the value they had these places and
some more than others, because it could stimulate a pattern of life
that has been passed down for centuries, which was based mainly on
the reports and that prevented the alienation of the individual.
Increasingly,
therefore, the cosmos, that is the order that meets the intent and
hosting harmony has gradually given way to chaos, to the sense of
abandonment and disorder witnessed by the presence of weeds in the
alleys, from the wreckage corroded and waste disposed of in the ruins
of the abandoned houses. First the earthquake, then men's choices,
condemning the alley to the degradation of childhood, breaking down
the house, clearing the landmarks and places of social life, without
being able at the same time to create other equally valid, even on a
symbolic level, they have broken the circle that each community
represents and transmits, as the clear sense of belonging to a group
with the same history, traditions and cultural heritage. They have
convinced us that there was really only one possible future and that
this was given by the reconstruction elsewhere and that this altar
was worth sacrificing everything else.
Under
the pressure of unexpected and uncontrolled a new building from the
architectural composition varied and unlikely mimicking
indiscriminately models from other contexts, plagiarized or stolen
from magazines with pictures of resorts in other latitudes, new
settlements sprang up, now more than then, like sad suburbs. "(7)
These
diverse assemblages of forms without substance, yet unable to embody
the combination of real need, cultural model and design
interpretation with no connection to the environment that hosts them,
most of the time to be allowed, were passed off as manufacturing
plants, because at Atena Lucana, as elsewhere, this was the only
trick possible to build, in the odor of an amnesty announced Building
and in the objective inability to wait for it to conclude the process
and not the end of a controversial General Plan, which was approved
later in 2007.
It
should be stressed that the Law n ° 47 of 28/02/1985, which arose
primarily as a provisional framework law on urban planning /
construction, building amnesty admitted to all the abuses carried out
in Italy until 1/10 / 1983. According to data CRESME, the
effect-announcement of the first amnesty resulted in the emergence,
in only two years, 1983/84, 230,000 artifacts abusive, out of a total
of 970,000 produced between 1982 and 1997 as a whole. (8)
After
30 years of the event, the result of those choices reckless, endorsed
by laws / care that over time have proven more lethal harm / event,
new settlements, especially those valleys and denounce their they
grow without a rule planning. In spite of the attempts that you will
want to make it through work so little impact, as late, these
amorphous and chaotic urban agglomerations are doomed to preserve the
character of neighborhoods of "centers without centrality",
together with the satellites of places that have lost their economic
also their identity and attachment of most of their inhabitants.
Especially
the younger ones, who were born in the era of the PC and the TV with
the remote control and can not conceive of a house without a decent
connection to the internet or without a convenient way to get there,
also under the weather or without garage a reasonable distance, and
comfortable homes away from the danger posed by the possible collapse
of the many empty houses from crumbling too and therefore as victims
of environmental degradation have persisted for decades.
Looking
at these new settlements valley, these "entity without identity"
(9) who have had easy game against the increasingly scarce resources
to invest in the restoration of existing buildings perched on top,
almost in an attempt to anachronistic and useless defense against the
"new" that progresses, more and more you feel that sense of
physical and psychological loss that only something he knows of
unfinished can give.
The
same fate has united many small towns in central and southern Italy,
especially those in the areas affected by the earthquake of November
80 that settlements with economies were based on agriculture and
pastoralism, as rightly pointed out in his Francesco Arminio "I
am a paesologo "have passed from the pre industrial to
post-industrial, without enjoying any benefits from an era of half
ever lived.
In
summary, we could say that what they did the barbarians (as a seismic
event), the Barberini did.
Ambiens and Topos: in the past, our future
"Only when we understand our places we will be able to participate creatively their history. "C. N. Schulz
Many
people tend to indicate in a general way, with the word
"environment", everything that surrounds us, but making
more or less consciously reference only purely natural aspect and
forgetting that it is impossible to talk about the environment at the
same time without making reference to 'human being and the influence
it exerts on every area of the planet, directly or indirectly,
already with just his presence.
The
term "environment" is derived from the Latin ambiens,
entis-, present participle of the verb "to aspire", which
means "to go around, surround". The environment is
therefore something dynamic, even if the term has lost the
connotation over time, to the benefit of an anthropocentric view
that.
I
find deforming, because it puts the man in view of the non-integral
component of the biosphere but rather to external who has been
granted the right to shape and manage everything for his own use and
consumption.
The
environment is something that goes beyond the coexistence of nature
and culture, wilderness and man-made space, is a place of mutations
and processes that move in a common context and thus can not help but
influence each other. Take, for example, an element very dear to me:
the square.
As
I have written elsewhere: "The Square is an urban void, a break
in the condensation of the town, which at the same time, however,
belongs to the fronts of the buildings that separates itself. E ',
together, a" fact "architecture and urban planning, because
goes beyond the bond that creates itself as it is also a "fact"
anthropology. [...] the square is the place dedicated to the
theatrical performance of any act or action that uses as its backdrop
[...]. When this is not is the square ceases to be the pause before
described, and that is fundamental presence of urban, scene of the
biggest events of the social life of the community, the phenomenon of
Genius Loci, being reduced to [...] futility set between the vacuum
and the fifth nothing without force or non-existent "(10).
The
environment in general and the city in particular, given the intimate
and continuous interaction between natural and human components,
which are a set of interaction in which every action of one
necessarily implies a response of the other, thus triggering a
process feedbak of which will be determined on the basis of other
choices and their new behaviors. The lack of interest in the
aftermath of disasters "and the lack of care for all that the
past is" just old "and not a" work of art ",
contribute to increase the likelihood that many of these assets
should be irretrievably lost. Believe that it is the responsibility
of the architect also, within the limits of its possibilities, work
to ensure this does not happen, searching and finding renewed
interest in the study and the recovery even less known fact "(11).
The
historical centers, as already mentioned, is an architectural,
historical and urban intimately and inextricably blends with the
natural and scenic values of the territories to which they belong as
the result of a long evolutionary process of organisms urban
character with color, material and construction complainants a clear
unity of purpose (12).
Intervene
without the same consistency of a stratified reality over the
centuries, is to separate what so traumatic that time and events had
combined: man and space, culture and man, man and community man and
beauty at a glance: the 'man and his environment.
In
the light of all the foregoing facts, it is clear that the
enhancement of Historic Places is a fundamental aspect of recovery is
not only in cultural objective pursued by the recovery of those
places in which personifies the memory and thus the identity of a
community but also socially and economically, precisely because of
the potential that can attract investment and varied.
I
fantasized at the end of the 90s, with the current Deputy Mayor,
Pasquale Iuzzolino, giving a result of my research work and
environmental design completed in 1984, (13) on the possibility
of a systematic recovery of the center of Atena. It was the day after
the boom of the timeshare, and one thing it became clear: beyond
building interventions questionable anarchy of materials and colors
used in the new building as well as the renovation of the historic
and sad approval interventions restructuring, the inhabitants of the
old center, the reconstruction did not obtain any real advantage.
After 15 years of the event, nothing was thought or done in a
meaningful way and organic to improve the standard of living of the
people and halt the understandable exodus . We noticed, for example,
the absence of points of convenient access to the various rings,
useful to everyone, but designed primarily thinking of the elderly,
given that accounted for the vast majority of those most reluctant or
unable more, for sentimental reasons and economic, to leave the old
house. We also observed that not only were missing, as still missing,
covered parking or stopping places organized and in sufficient number
for the residents but also lacked a plan under which dislocarli
strategically in the vicinity of these access points.
I
explained to the Deputy Lerida's Plan, which had come to their
knowledge through the publication of a few years earlier. (14)
My
idea was to connect in the same way as the lowest ring, the only
driveway with the ability to accommodate parking, with two others,
and to do so without making any violence at the site, taking
advantage of its residential buildings with type in the tower part of
the country that faces north, that is, the valley of Serra
dell'Arenaccia and Serra of Atena. My solution, in detail, provided
the emptying of these parallelepipeds through the removal of the
floors, the walls of the device consolidation and integration at the
center of an elevator, can also be used as a lift for the disabled
and staircases metal that revolved around and landed at the two
highest levels, where appropriate, through the use of walkways. The
sufficient area of these buildings tower would have paid without any
difficulty to this new feature, not to mention that at that time, the
use of trucks would make it much easier to transport materials for
the "reconstruction" at the highest levels and would have
avoided at least in part the havoc that is made of the original
pavement, covered in several places with the cement, to allow the
passage of the mechanical means. My idea of giving a new function to
the tower buildings, was very innovative for its time, especially
when you consider that the type of tower parallelepiped has been
handed down from the past and that the elevators connecting the
various levels of 'town gave excellent results, both in small towns
like Pontassieve (Fi), and in those with a larger and architectural
heritage of respect, such as Perugia.
Another
thing that became clear in the course of our discussion on the
problems of the old town after the earthquake and possible solutions,
was that it would be increasingly difficult to find sufficient funds
for timely recovery of what was even then in obvious neglect and, at
the same time to erase all traces of those actions so expensive and
unnecessary and disfiguring which were determined over the years
(15).
We
became immediately aware that, of the enormous scope of the project
where we were thinking and new life that only he could give shape to
the ideas and the will to tear our past chaos to return it to a
cosmos as late as still desirable.
Now
and in the absence of a real economic development plan, for which we
would have expected even years, help could come from tourism. Then,
is now we just went two treasures already on the ground and never
properly advertised and promoted: the craft and artistic and natural
beauty. In the first case we had a tradition to be recovered, in
accordance with the proximity to attractive tourist spots throughout
the year, represented by mountain destinations in Basilicata and
maritime borders of Campania, which could simultaneously satisfy both
the needs of tourism intellectual, through the sites archaeological
and historical and artistic interest of both regions, and of that
more closely interested in the mass entertainment and relaxation.
The
idea, modern for the time, rode the wave of the latest fashion
tourism launched by then, he had found a new formula and cheapest way
to move around the planet freely. Simple and ingenious, the solution
was to take ownership, along with other co-owners and for the minimum
period of one week, one or more accommodation in resort resorts in
more or less known. The most innovative and interesting of the
proposal, however, was represented by its not being inextricably
linked forever to the place where he had purchased the timeshare,
but, on the contrary, to be even more mobile by virtue of buying a
property. Timeshare gave it the opportunity to share the same week
with another property in another location of your choice. Also be
multiproprietario only one accommodation was enough to join one of
the many circuits of mutual exchange of accommodation / holiday
scattered throughout the planet.
My
intuition was the realization that the Old Town was not to be seen
simply as a monument to contemplate, an archaeological excavation
removed with the earth that covered just about to apply powder and
anonymity protected by a deposit of the museum away from real life
and the ability to produce wealth sufficient at least to its
survival.
We
had to find ideas to revitalize the role of a reality was so heavily
impaired in its materials and components not only that he was in
obvious decline.
The
project or rather, the idea of the recovery of the historical center
of Athens Lucana, although immature, as are all the new ideas at the
beginning, especially if born out of young minds, was based on the
following points:
1.
Made safe building, through his recovery in full compliance with the
rules in force in the field of environmental safety and structural
(now also add energy savings) and the removal of architectural
barriers and the recovery of the buildings destroyed as gardens
hanging (now also add parking for bikes and electric cars). The work,
carried out in full compliance with the Genius Loci and then with an
eye to tradition, were made by local craftsmen, creating new job
opportunities and at the same time during recovery craft.
Interventions that would be of interest in a systematic way many
buildings had been possible and would start from the most in good
condition and, other things being equal, those with the best
exposure, ease of access and beauty of the landscape;
2.Community
involvement in the financing of the project in the first place and
the owners of the houses of the old town. The owners do not in
conditions to shoulder the entire cost of the recovery of their
property, they would have the possibility to sell the same and to
keep a portion of the property in the form of week / holiday to be
exchanged;
3.The
economic involvement of the City, a proposal that would still be
valid, in exchange for his commitment to urbanize the area, supplying
the services needed to respond adequately to the demands resulting
from its new function;
4.Creating
workshops and gastronomic and dining venues in which to find only
local products (now add the condition of traceability) and to
organize meetings and conferences focusing on their bidding;
5.The
finalization of the work on the recovery of traditions and old
trades, open laboratories. The idea was to include in the package the
possibility, by the tourist who made the request, to attend courses
in which come into direct contact with local crafts and learn the
techniques, in the spirit of this type of an alternative holiday;
6.Trekking
and excursions to places of natural and cultural interest. By Athena
and Vallo di Diano in general, as already mentioned, are accessible
and can be visited in a day, both sites of Lucania (eg. Castles of
Frederick II in Lagopesole, Venosa Melfi, the Cathedral of Acerenza
the Sassi of Matera and the hermits cave, archaeological excavations
of the Roman era in Venosa as Grumento, the beautiful coast of
Maratea) and Campania (eg. Certosa di Padula, archaeological
excavations in Buccino, the Caves in Perth, the area of the temples
of Paestum, the caves of Palinuro), and the tourist areas of the
south-western coast (the coast and Cilento Coast), both of winter
tourism in Lucania (the ski fields on Vulturino). The goals
originally designed, you can now add new realities, such as the Park
of Cilento and Vallo di Diano, the Parco del Sele and Tanagro and the
WWF of Persano, to mention the ones closest, made even closer to the
rest of the world, the recent creation of the airport Pontecagnano;
7.Within
a strictly local, the recovery and development of the old paths
disused and forgotten. One of these is certainly the best known is
the so-called Ascent of the breast, used as a shortcut path, mostly
by farmers who came to work the fields located in the valley. Other
trails recoverable as tourist attractors are all those trails used by
shepherds to reach the pastures, some of which are located right in
the Walloon dell'Arenaccia and Red Cliff and represent attractive
locations for the presence of caves and ravines always used as a
shelter by shepherds but certainly frequented by man in prehistoric
times. Interestingly, even in this second case, assume trekking
routes linking the Village Hotel in these sites.
My
other idea that dates back to 2006 and which I think can serve as an
attractor is recovering , the old railway line of the Calabro Lucana
as a bike path(16).
8. Finally,
I would add one more, the old solutions to create interest in our
town and, more generally, for all our territory, new but not
original. The idea that has proven over time to be a major
tourist attraction, although made in a region of Lucania not own
center of gravity and can only be reached through a road is not easy
or fast, it is known as the "angel flight". Realized for
the first and only time in Italy, between the towns of Castelmezzano
and Pietra Pertosa, in the lucane Dolomites , is still the "flight"
highest and longest in the world. In addition to this there are only
three others and everybody in France. Easily manufactured and
inexpensive, is to fly over to several meters in height and great
speed, sites with a strong impact on the landscape. The overflight is
carried out, in complete safety, suspended from a steel rope, along
which it slides by means of a pulley to which it is harnessed and
covers the distance between a point A and a point B positioned at
sites with sufficient height difference. Appearance improvement of
the original and that our project marks a radical departure from what
already done in Lucania, is not so much the greater length and height
from the ground, but rather to place the starting point in a place
that is both very scenic and easy access by car but outside the town
and instead locate the point of arrival in the Old Town, so that
tourists, in the path of returning to their means of locomotion, may
come in contact with the local situation and be induced to remain
there (17).
From Timeshare to "Widespread Hotel": the evolution of an idea
"(...) Is not such a good thing if it is not usable. The mere contemplation does not belong to architecture. "
The
"Widespread Hotel" is not a hotel from scratch, but a
"horizontal structure", an idea with the aim to recover the
abandoned buildings within countries and turn them into housing to be
inserted in a circuit holidays. Horizontal because it is designed
with a central structure, the reception, which serves as a meeting
place and meeting clients and a number of units, rooms, located in
different buildings in the town center, but not too far from the
reception that must be easily accessible. The idea of ?? "Widespread
Hotel" (18) was born in Carnia, after the earthquake of
1976, when it was decided, with foresight, to invest for tourism on
the houses and villages deserted and renovated for residential
purposes.
However,
the term is used for the first time in 1982 within the "pilot
project Comeglians" which proposed as a program for the reversal
of the ongoing deterioration. The occasion was particularly favorable
since the years when he was carrying out the reconstruction after the
earthquake of 1976, a situation that would allow him to convey at
least some of those funds in the creation of this innovative project.
The projects, however, remained in the drawer and were partly dusted
with the arrival of funding from the EU ban called 5b. In the 80s the
term "Widespread Hotel" spreads, and there is a
number of projects and attempts to implement the idea in other areas
in the country. The first attempts of "Widespread Hotel"
in Emilia Romagna there were in 1984 and 1987 in Vitulano, a
municipality in the province of Sannio in Benevento. In these first
two attempts, the main objective which was pursued to recover empty
buildings and abandoned homes in order to animate city centers
deserted and enhance a tourist site in a logical marketing call
"product-oriented" rather than to respond to the needs of
an application interested in doing experiments to some extent still
authentic because they are linked to the spirit of the place, the
so-called Genius Loci, often mentioned. In those early efforts was
therefore still absent the idea of building a model for alternative
hospitable distinct and different from the traditional ones, and that
they wanted to propose as a model and a culture of hospitality with
its roots in the territory, able to look at deepest needs of the
application, which consisted precisely in order to interact with a
locally unique for its peculiarities.
Projects
designed in the '80s, because of the lack of broader vision and the
recovery of the ancient complex reality in a context of modernity,
are therefore to be considered the most common of residence, rather
than "Widespread Hotel" , included as individual homes
scattered in the area that were retrieved and then put in network
especially with the intention of making a profit. It was therefore
proposed that private enterprise on the market in a spontaneous way,
as an offering to the mountain that had a market survey and without
that there was then a strategy on how to listen to the question and
can offer a service consistent with it. But it is always in the 80s
that the idea of ??the "Widespread Hotel" take
sharper edges and begins to be conceived as a horizontal hotel
located in a historical center of fascination, with rooms and
services located appropriately in different buildings, but always
close to each of them. The implementation, although only partial of
the first realizations of WH, however, there will be only in the 90s
and this is because a few reasons, including the aberrant logic of
bureaucracy have delayed implementation. The bureaucratic problem was
joined by that of legislation still missing and that was only after
1998 in Sardinia. Not by chance were just models of WH Sardinians to
be the subject of several seminars and opportunities to study and at
the base of the first legislation in Italy has distinguished the
"Widespread Hotel" from other forms of
hospitality.
In
2008, the popular idea of the hotel has been awarded in Budapest at
the conference Helping new talents to grow as a best practice for
economic growth to be transferred to developing countries. The idea
of a "Widespread Hotel", can be finally defined as a
horizontal hotel, located in a historical center, with rooms and
services located in different buildings, although close to each
other, and is intended as an accommodation unit that caters to an
application interested in staying in a particular urban context, in
contact with the residents and at the same time taking advantage of
the normal hotel services. This formula, which proved to be
particularly attractive villages and countries with historical
centers of art and architecture, can be revived but also in smaller
towns which do not have these same characteristics but who have a
strategic position in their territory which allows reach sites of
natural and / or cultural, with least cost and time.
It
is therefore, a proposal designed to offer guests the experience of
living in a historic center of a city or a country, relying on all
hotel services, that is, of hospitality, service, food, spaces and
services for guests, staying in houses and rooms that are no more
than 200 meters from the place in which the reception, common areas
and dining area.
But
the CEO is also a model of regional development that does not create
environmental impact. To give life to a "Widespread Hotel"
in fact, you do not need to build anything, since it is limited to
recover / restore and put it in a holiday circuit that already
exists. WH also serves as a "social defense" and revives
soul or, as in the case of Athena Lucana, historical centers,
stimulating initiatives and involving local producers considered as a
key component of the offer. An WH in fact, thanks to the authenticity
of the proposal, the proximity of the structures that compose it and
the presence of a community of residents is able to offer more than a
living, a way of life. With the WH we can hope to bring life back in
the old centers affected by depopulation, such as those in the
earthquake of 1980, Irpinia and Salerno and then, even Atena Lucana
and you can restore and enhance the many buildings closed and no
longer used. This must be done and we must do it quickly, before a
piece of cornice fall off or slide a tile hitting one of the
residents as innocent or unwitting tourists who sometimes happen to
meet in the streets deserted.
The
idea of recovering the historical center and bring it back to life
through its gradual transformation into WH is based on the
consideration that the economic problems worldwide have greatly
affected the way of understanding the holidays. More and more often,
in recent years prefer the Italian places as tourist destinations,
while the same duration of the holiday has progressively and
substantially reduced. Unfortunately, however, he goals are almost
always the same and this for two main reasons: the lack of adequate
facilities and the lack of public awareness of the so-called small
towns, maybe located a few kilometers from the sites of greater
tourist and yet almost completely unknown. This, in particular, is
the case of Atena Lucana that, as mentioned above, is at the center
of one of the many Italian sites of great cultural and scenic.
Another consideration is that the CEO has the ability to meet the
needs of expert users, and therefore tired of the usual formulas
hotel, as composed of people who are looking for innovative
solutions.
In
his study "Leisure Travel" in 1991, S. Plog says that
"tourists on holiday wish uniqueness, non-uniformity and, for
this, plus the hotel reflects the local architecture, customs and
lifestyle of the area, the more it can be chosen as a holiday
destination alternatives
But
the most important aspect of WH is the respect of the cultural
environment, the context in which it is moving directly towards the
recovery of the artistic and cultural heritage of the smaller
centers, policies pursued by both the Community and the national
ones, only more rarely, and far-sightedness, from the locals, who
often have no idea of the wealth they have and the possibilities they
have to create jobs and perhaps, to maintain or even increase the
population and all without touching contaminating the culture, the
environment, the identity of places. The "Widespread
Hotel" can then have the role of "facilitator"
cultural and economic centers, particularly in small communities and
this would be desirable, because each center changed in WH does not
become a sort of Disneyland disposable, a sideshow poorly designed
and managed worse, that the project is compiled by Cultural
Associations and Environmentalist, with the significant participation
of the Municipality, the Pro Loco and the owners themselves and that
is managed by a cooperative formed by qualified personnel under their
direct control. In summary, I believe that tourism is undoubtedly one
of the major sources of income and livelihood for the countries and
especially for those who, like Italy, are fortunate to have so many
interesting places in terms of culture and environmental. Those in
tourism in a professional manner, however, knows that it is important
in this field, and that these ideas have to generate competitive
projects must be innovative. This same idea, that in the 90's was
futuristic, it is now only contemporary time has been wasted to seek
forms of personal gain limited and with little speculation, instead
of investing as a community, so bold and modern. Not without
ill-concealed irony, in fact, are usually criticize those who in the
past have seen many accommodations of the Vallo, many of which are in
the territory of Atena Lucana, as the symptoms of a positive reality:
recent structures are certainly questionable eclecticism style that
has nothing to do with the models of local but more similar to the
Adriatic coast, when they are clearly of industrial buildings with a
coating fake in front, but without a doubt, in all cases, structures
with for maximum comfort and excellent finishing. However, are "white
elephants", almost always underutilized because for years, even
strong government incentives, there has been engaged in creating
facilities for the reception of tourists without parallel search for
ideas to entice tourists to choose our area as a destination . We
naively believed that having wealth of great environmental and
cultural value as the Certosa di Padula or Caves in Pertosa, to name
just two of the many, we could exempt from the need to promote
ourselves in the market and do not individually and approximate, but
in a professional and choral offering vacation packages stimulants
because alternative. The WH itself is proposed in an attractive,
alternative under its own unique features, first of all authenticity,
a feature that allows visitors to experience a stay in homes and
buildings designed to be real homes and have the opportunity to be in
contact with the residents, to be immersed in the local community in
the first person, to live the village and its reality.
Another
aspect that makes a formula WH interesting is the possibility of
offering a structured plan in that the tourist would have at its
disposal a wide choice, by virtue of differentiated.
In
short: my idea of WH is to be understood as a project that has as
main objective is not only to revive the local economy but also to
recover the artistic and environmental heritage, and in full respect
of the cultural environment, being able to transform the abandonment
resource.I would like to create an environment in which can be
possible for tourists to experience the stay in full compliance with
the authenticity of the environment, with the opportunity to come
into contact with local traditions and handicraft production and
farming.
I
think that there is the possibility for the visitor to retrieve the
manual's production processes that were generations from him not very
far yet unknown and to learn the techniques. Guess visits explanatory
mills, mills, laboratories, bakers and confectioners, in the
workshops of blacksmiths, farriers, the tinsmiths, in the
laboratories of the chairmenders, baskets of weavers, potters. I
think in lectures or in sheepfolds stables to understand the
production process that leads to the production of cheese from milk,
imagine the possibility that they may participate in the olive
harvest or fruit or harvest, to teach them the process of wine
production. I guess that is to give him the possibility of a varied
holiday, which is between the intellectual development of museums and
the "living" farm.
So, a
project designed with the intention to address through various
proposals to different user groups and to do it with a hospitality
solution that is played much of his competitiveness, greater
visibility resulting originality of the formula.
But I
am aware that to achieve this you will have to face and solve another
major problem, especially in the reality of the south has
difficulties to die and that is the distrust of the new.
Resistance
to these initiatives, despite the passage of years, is likely to be
of a cultural nature and the danger is to find himself having to
convince the goodness of the operation suspicious owners and
administrators anchored to their old ideas. (19)
As
well as those for the recovery of the paths and rural sites are
eligible for the PSR (20).
This
could mean that if you have never done anything, it is for lack of
interest and when it is done but got hurt, it was also due to the
inability to understand their places and the little love for the
'environment in its broadest sense.
I
think that is the possibility for the visitor to retrieve the
manual's production processes that were generations from him not very
far yet unknown and to learn the techniques. Guess visits explanatory
mills, mills, laboratories, bakers and confectioners, in the
workshops of blacksmiths, farriers, the tinsmiths, in the
laboratories of the chairmenders, baskets of weavers, potters. I
think in lectures or in sheepfolds stables to understand the
production process that leads to the production of cheese from milk,
imagine the possibility that they may participate in the olive
harvest or fruit or harvest, to teach them the process of wine
production. I guess that is to give him the possibility of a varied
holiday, which is between the intellectual development of museums and
the "living" farm.
CONCLUSIONS
Although
it is desirable and even necessary that every region which
accomodates a "Widespread Hotel" or enter Villages Hotels
inserts within their regional law a clear and precise classification
of accommodation facilities in and outside the hotel in charge of
this new form of hospitality, well, the Campania Region has not yet
done this and although some specialized sites indicate the presence
of at least one "Widespread Hotel" and two villages Hotels
inside.
Unfortunately
the same sites do not give any indication on their location and this
is seen even more clearly the confusion that still persists in their
unambiguous identification and classification.
The
"Widespread Hotels" , in fact, are often confused with the
simple renovated apartments available for tourists in the form of
private initiative. This management improvised and without a real
organization upstream, prevents the product offered meets the quality
standards required to be not only attractive but also competitive.
The inclusion of the "Widespread Hotel" within
a regional law, ensure the originality and authenticity of such an
innovative and sophisticated form of hospitality and would be much
easier for the town to be part of a collaborative program national is
concerned with the promotion of large-scale, with more and faster
gains, it is easy to imagine.
The
product offered through this desirable prudent management might even
lead to the creation of a quality that can identify and promote the
different local structures in the same region of the host and
increase collaboration between the various municipalities.
This
type of organization, of course, it can not disregard the presence of
highly qualified personnel, whose training should be achieved at
specific schools so that they can form handlers, because the staff
with the creation of specialist schools, with management courses,
training and updating in order to give the opportunity to tour
operators to keep always informed.
Useful
to point out the aspect that the phenomenon of "Widespread
Hotels" can not and must not become a new fashion in the
banality of tourism, so it must be the realization of a project
choral, concrete and coherent birth, developed and run by people who
really love and respect the environment and above all its territory
and accredited organizations and associations, such as environmental
and Pro Loco and subtracted from the control, more or less obvious,
schemers of local money buy a few abandoned houses, the restructure
with little spending, perhaps at the expense of the state and still
no respect for tradition and the very idea of "Widespread
Hotel" and turn them into the hotel facilities good, that
will be short-lived, as often happens, but not before he had damaged
further, with their failure, the context in which they arose.
This
must not happen.
I
firmly believe in this idea and believe, as I said, from the
beginning of the 90's, and I started working, even if unwittingly, in
1983. I therefore hope that they really got the time and the right
people for its implementation but above all this, it could be a pilot
project can give small countries a chance to revive its economy and
at the same time to share with other people from all over the world,
the beauty of its territory.
At
the end I just want to emphasize that funding for the recovery of the
Regional Historical Centres have been operating for some years in
Campania as well as those for the recovery of the paths and rural
sites are eligible for the PSR. This could mean that if you have
never done anything, it is for lack of interest and when it is done
but got hurt, it was also due to the inability to understand their
places and the little love for the 'environment in its broadest
sense.
NOTES
2) A
Notable example: If you live in a certain environment has proven
experience with a certain inclination of the slopes of the roof as
sufficient to properly dispose of the rainfall, clearly higher
or much lower inclinations are much too large and therefore useless
in the first case, as they are unable to solve the problem in
the second. In both cases, however, are solutions out of context as
dictated by personal and therefore always questionable aesthetic
sense. In any case, inadequate responses to the real problems of the
environment in which they were entered. The same applies to the
colors, the choice of materials, the context of their use, for the
processing techniques and use, and even for thickness. The white
facades or light colors in general are good for the sea to fend
off the sun's rays too bitter but in mountain environments, where it
is good to draw them instead to get a natural warming of the
house, it is best to use dark colors, which are known instead attract
the rays of the sun. Similarly:
thickness
too small and too invasive for machining parts in stone, especially
limestone, exposed in mountain environments these artifacts to
the phenomenon of freezing and consequent rapid degradation.
These
spaces, after 30 years are before the eyes of all, victims of
degradation and abandonment. Worth an inspiration to all who
witnessed the havoc made in those years to Atena Lucana: the
creation of an unnecessary and costly scale reinforced concrete work
that horrible, returning from my trip to Rome did in the early
90's, called ironically "Spanish Steps", alluding to the
magnificent tangle of ramps that pompously reported. Daughter
of the same absurd logic is also the last horror architectural
realized in the historical center and that is the "non-place"
wanted the top of the Old Town, close to the remains of the
castle walls, in places disgusted. The open space that has been
created following the demolition of four houses were seriously
damaged by the quake, located in front of a noble building, now home
to an expensive and perfectly furnished Multipurpose Center. The
share of wear of said open space was maintained, with architectural
choice than ever inopportune, at a level higher than a meter
compared to that of the entrance of the building. This decision has
also relegated to the building entrance in an alley whose width is
less than 2 meters, making it impossible to dominate the place,
because of the lack of a proper balance between the various elements
and adequate depth perspective. What was worse, is that the
presence of this wall had been created near the entrance of the
building housing a multi-functional deputy, is the cap at the
entrance itself, preventing any users to use a quick and easy escape
route in case of danger. Do not forget that we are in a highly
seismic. The same, users in fact, if they had respected the true
relationship between the building and the square, ie those passed
in architecture has always, in case of seismic event could find
a quick way out in the square in front of the building and not meet,
as would happen now, bottled in an alley. Again, even the poor
choice of flooring used throughout the environment is likely to
endanger the safety of the citizen. Having used the same stone
coating all surfaces, horizontal, inclined and vertical seamless and
with the same installation, prevents to clearly perceive the
differences in height. These become even less visible in unfavorable
light conditions, such as at dusk or on a cloudy day or problems to
public lighting and are even less with my eyes no longer in good
condition, as they could be those of the elderly. Finally, the
absence of a drain close to the main facade of the building and
the simultaneous choice to realize a flooring discontinuous and
totally divorced from the context in form and substance, is
another choice decidedly inconvenient. The same fact, realized with
river stones of small size and spaced out and placed on absorbent
surface, becomes highly permeable to rainwater, inter alia
deliberately conveyed in several points of the same via descendants.
Obviously this has caused abundant and dangerous infiltration
foundations and the obvious rise by capillary action, the same
humidity, due to the evident as early deterioration of the
walls of a building, although sometimes used for years, it has not
been opened yet.In this architectural uselessness in the past and
more recent if they are added others, some of which are dilapidated
for decades, such as the Public Baths, or never really used,
such as the Market Hall and the open space between the sports field
and public housing on Avenue Kennedy.
4)
The recovery of the original contents of the house "-
Sangiovanni Angelo and Giuseppe Di Carlo - Course of Environmental
Design, University of Florence, aa 1984/85
5)
Archetype is a term that originated in ancient Greek writings and has
the meaning of "image to model, brand expression, copy the
original" tipos (original) arché. The word was coined by Philo
of Alexandria and later used by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and
Lucian of Samosata and this is reflected in the various
disciplines. In a philosophical context, the archetype is a
pre-existing and original form of a thought (eg. The Platonic
idea) in psychoanalysis many authors use it to refer to innate ideas
and deep unconscious human mythology indicates the forms the
base of the primitive expressions mythical and religious man, and in
the study of narrative indicates metaconcetti of a literary
expression of its characters and the structure of the narrative,
in linguistics Jacques Derrida used to indicate the concept of
"archi" and that is the ideal form of writing
pre-existing before the creation of man and language from which it
originates. The archetype is also present in philology to
indicate the creation of an original work or the oldest element
and not originated by others. The study therefore archetype is born
from the need to seek those original architectural forms
generated and create deep human needs: health, beauty, aesthetic,
economic and environmental sustainability.
6)
Examples of non-places made from those years are never well used
indoor market, with a competition of ideas that we tried to recover
the so-called public baths made with poor choice, in the immediate
vicinity of the Monument to the Fallen of World War I, but two
floors below the road, so as to discourage its use even by the
more sprightly old man. Again, the Town Hall that has the same shape
and position representational capacity and awareness of a
condominium in the suburbs, the gym / auditorium, one of many
multifunctional spaces (which too often means: I have no idea
what to do in this work but I was able to obtain funds and then I
realized), a box used in precast because there was a real need, but
that soon will be added to a similar Scalo in the country. The above
disgusted, a misguided attempt to bring life into a reality,
like that of the upper part of the old town, abandoned for twenty
years. Finally: the "non-places" of Atena Lucana, that
I wrote during the "competition of ideas for the redevelopment
Urbanism, Landscape and Architectural area of the municipal market"
of http://atenalucana.blogspot.it/2012_08_01_archive.html -
Arch Angel Sangiovanni 20/06/2009.
7)
Now, next to the palaces of the "gentlemen" of the late
nineteenth century and early twentieth century, many of peasant
origin, not far away, houses and villas are springing up that
the new emerging class, lower middle-class and peasant, displays as a
distinctive sign of prestige, supplanting outgoing middle class,
the bicentennial class of rich landowners and professional: "lords"
of the past, but imitating the more external codes of conduct ".
Dr. Elena D'Alto, Archaeologist," Atena ancient ", under"
Recovery the original contents of the house "and brought in
- Sangiovanni Angelo and Giuseppe Di Carlo - Course of Environmental
Design, University of Florence, academic year 1984/85
8)
"The unitary structure is still saved even though building
groups, which began on the eastern outskirts of the village (area
Braida) begins to hurt the village and the square [...]. This
precious heritage that is being lost on Braida, to absurd staff
replacements, it could be saved.
" Dr. Elena D'Alto,
Archaeologist, "Atena ancient" in "The recovery of the
original contents of the house" and brought in - Sangiovanni
Angelo and Giuseppe Di Carlo - Course of Environmental Design,
University of Florence, aa 1984/85.
For
Atena Lucana, the promise of new job opportunities offered by these
settlements chaotic, where production facilities have become
homes mingle with those who remained such, sometimes causing
discomfort and problems of coexistence between neighbors in this
time of recession, clashed with the reality of a southern growing
slowly because it continues to run empty, but valid strategies and
without any real programming that is not petty speculation and the
consequent enrichment of a few. That same little speculation
that has pushed up land prices unnaturally, with the result
that the small business owner, including the grip of a minimum lot
size of 20,000 meters, reality divorced from agriculture of our
country and the exorbitant prices imposed by bordering on the sale
of floor area missing to the realization of enlargement
necessary activities, are increasingly looking for sites that you
can go, located in the industrial areas of other towns. We are
waking up from a long sleep and wake up thirty years we are in an
economy that is sluggish and many artifacts started and
never finished or finished and never inhabited and offered for
rent or put unnecessary even for sale.
11)
"calcarenites and Calciruditi the Flysch Pescopagano" -
Arch Angel Sangiovanni - 2000
13)
Daydreaming is the right term, because after years we are still
telling us the same things with the same passion. Things or rather
"dreams" that are the basis of this work.
14)
To be precise, a number of Casabella in 1985 and who had the idea for
the district Cayeret. Basically it was the inclusion of a tower with
a triangular base that housed inside elevators and stairs and through
walkways, connecting the pedestrian plaza of San Juan at the
bottom with the accommodation space in front of the cathedral on the
hill of San Leo .
15)
An example: the unnecessary and costly layer of cement that disgusted
ironically called "Spanish Steps." Call today to hear
that, with equal irony now most of my countrymen, I do not
proud, though. If anything turns the knife.
17)
The project is the brainchild of the Municipal Councillor for the
Environment, Pasquale Iuzzolino, although still in its infancy is
quite clear in our minds and will be completed under the
supervision of the same Department and submitted to the opinion of
the Administration Hall, the Pro Loco and environmental
associations in the area, "Making Environment" in the first
place, which has its Atena Lucana in his own workshop. I personally
think that the environmental impact of these mechanisms, among other
things, not too bulky and the same tightrope, is not very
important, especially when compared to the bulky and unnecessary
bad things that are made in the remote and recent past and others
that are project and to which no one has ever made me feel its
weight.
18)
The region with the most popular hotels is the Molise, thanks to the
work done by the operators of the "Territorial Pact of Matese",
followed by the regions of Apulia and Sardinia supported by the
work of Local Action Groups and finally thanks to Calabria
contribution of some associations.
19)
CAMPANIA - Regional Council - Meeting of February 25, 2006 -
Resolution No. 264 General Area Coordination N. 16 - Government land,
landscape and environmental protection goods and cultural -
LR18.10.2002 n. 26. Standards and incentives for the development of
historical centers of Campania and classification of environmental
quality landscape.
Changes to L.R. February 19, 1996, n. 3.
Evaluation criteria in order to actions and interventions to admit to
contribution under Title I. Annuity 2006.Nuovo Rural Development
Programme 2007-2013 In summary, the measure provides a support to the
recipients identified hereinafter with the aim of: 1. increase the
attractiveness of rural areas; 2. enhancing the natural resources,
architectural and cultural characteristics of rural areas making
tourist attractors; 3. trigger processes of integrated sustainable
development; 4. promote awareness of quality products of the
territory; 5. promote the tourism of the area nationally and
internationally; 6. create information infrastructures to support the
promotion and development of the area; 7. encourage the adoption and
diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for the
promotion and marketing activities.
RDP
2007-2013 - Measure 323 - "development, conservation and
upgrading of the rural heritage"
Presentation
of Measure In this measure means pursue actions for improvement and
development of rural areas, to be implemented through the
rehabilitation of cultural heritage in them and this important
natural heritage that characterizes it. Regional rural areas, which
although characterized by a strong economic and social
dependence on agriculture, have strengths that are identified in the
consistent presence of local contexts "natural" in the
strong bond between the people and the surrounding area, in the
presence of traditional crafts related to the culture of the area, of
which the nature is a fundamental part. In particular, the measure is
intended, through environmental education, aimed at people of all
ages, to rebuild the sense of identity of rural people,
developing a sense of citizenship, fostering a culture of
participation and care of their environment. You can implement
interventions aimed at raising awareness on issues of sustainable
development, environmental education, environmental protection and
better knowledge of the natural and cultural heritage. Are also
possible interventions aimed at the promotion of Natura 2000 sites
and other sites of high natural value, aimed at conserving the
typical elements of the landscape and the cultural, historical /
architectural and construction of places and artifacts in the
rural landscape.
PSR
2007-2013 - Measure 313 - "Encouragement of tourism activities"
Presentation of Measure
The
measure has been activated in the knowledge that tourism can be an
important opportunity to reverse the negative trend of social
and economic decline and depopulation evident in many rural areas.
This sector can contribute to a lasting and sustainable
socio-economic development of rural areas. In this perspective, the
tourist must be primarily oriented to the promotion and
enhancement of environmental, architectural, historical,
cultural and productive activities in rural areas through the
harmonization and integration with other local development
programs pursuing common objectives identified development of
territorial scale.
