Percorso formativo e modello di apprendimento basati sullo studio del territorio: Fornaci antiche e materiali geopolimerici nel territorio di Venetico

The main purpose of the work is to identify a training path within a learning model based on the study of the territory. The fundamental assumption of the study is the consideration of the usefulness of frequenting the territory, and of the goods distributed in it, not as an occasional event, but as a didactic practice for the purpose of achieving disciplinary, training and development objectives of the territory. In this frame of reference there is a training course that involves some clay quarries in the Province of Messina that have had and still have a considerable importance for the territory, due to the development of methodologies for improving the properties of clay-based materials. and, consequently, for the cultural and economic exchanges that derive from it. The educational path traced around the following main items: 1) archaeological information on the findings of clay quarries in the area of Venetico and Spadafora; 2) information on the presence of kilns and quarries in the Province of Messina in 1890; 3) use of clay for the production of ceramics, bricks and for the future development of geopolymer products and artefacts and 4) description of the Hoffmann furnace in Venetico which has recently been renovated and enlarged with the creation of classrooms, laboratories and exhibition and meeting spaces.