Strategies for the conservation and enhancement of old town centers

The problems related to the small town centers are often similar through the whole Europe, both for the problems related to the physical preservation of traditional architectures, and the social dynamics involved. The study of the center of Castelvecchio Calvisio may be emblematic to focus a mode of inquiry that preserves the characteristics of the historic architecture combining them with the demands of safety and fruition. Clearly, the ways of action must be programmed on two different fronts: conservation, safety measures by adapting the architecture and the interventions of downtown revitalization through the inclusion of new features. In fact, the depopulation of the hystorical centre of Castelvecchio Calvisio can be compared with the historical centers that, formed under the influence of certain requirements, are located at a disadvantage compared to new paths and often packed in their development by objective physical barriers. The case of Castelvecchio Calvisio and many historical centers of Europe, in particular, is very similar to that of the historical centers located in the north eastern part of Sicily, near the Nebrodi Park, an area of high seismic risk. The teaching on the most appropriate practices of intervention in such cases has to focus learners on the materials present and the architectural culture of the place, the safety, the practices of intervention and preservation of the architecture but also on the integration and enhancement of existing social tissue with the inclusion of new relationships that do not denature the identity of the center studied. One of the experiments currently under construction in the historic centers of the Nebrodis is the whitespread hotel one, which foresee the opportunity to use some building cells as a guesthouse by creating a micro-economy which revitalize the center itself.