The catastrophic effects of seismic events that, in the last decade, hit Italian cities and landscapes have shown the urgency and topicality of a historically recurring issue. The traumatic events affected various communities and stemmed different political and social responses. The same etymology of the word "catastrophe", from the Greek καταστρέϕω (katastrepho), suggests a double meaning: revolution and solution, referring, in the one case, to an The catastrophic effects of seismic events that, in the last decade, hit Italian cities and landscapes have shown the urgency and topicality of a historically recurring issue. The traumatic events affected various communities and stemmed different political and social responses. The same etymology of the word "catastrophe", from the Greek καταστρέϕω (katastrepho), suggests a double meaning: revolution and solution, referring, in the one case, to an alteration (most likely a traumatic change) while, in the other, to a decisive reaction with respect to a previous status. Witnessing the results of these socio-political responses (proving more or less successful, depending on the cases), prompted me to try and look at the catastrophe as a generative event, able to crate new spatial conditions in the landscape and in the built environment. To examine this under a spatial, semantic and social point of view, I will focus my research on the case of Gibellina (Sicily) or, better to say, on the two cities of Gibellina: Gibellina la Nuova (new) and Gibellina la Vecchia (old). In 1968 a massive seismic event destroyed the Belice Valley. Nuova Gibellina was raised twenty kilometers far from the original location of the old center as an answer to the earthquake and the trauma it produced. Here, an impressive amount of artistic and architectural interventions were carried out between the ‘70s and the early ’00s as part of a plan of cultural and identity re-birth. On the other hand, the history of the remains of the old center (Gibellina Vecchia) involve, as a key figure, the Italian artist Alberto Burri. Contrary to the reconstruction and relocation plan thought for Gibellina Nuova, Burri demanded to act in strict physical proximity with the place of the trauma. He confronted it by creating a visual repetition of the catastrophe, by making the traumatic experience perpetual and including the remains within its work with an action of reversed archeology; in other words, he created Il Grande Cretto di Gibellina. The first part of the thesis will draw a critical historical excursus through the most significant phases of Gibellina’s process of destruction, re-location and reconstruction. The second part of the thesis will try to give a definition to Burri’s piece of art. This will allow a critical comparative analysis between the two, nearly opposite, responses to the catastrophe with their spatial, historic and social implications. In the last part of the thesis, through the analysis of recent documentaries, photography and art performances, I will highlight the present strong generational differences in the perception of the work of art and in the perception of the new city’s image; a difference in the response to the trauma and to the loss of identity. alteration (most likely a traumatic change) while, in the other, to a decisive reaction with respect to a previous status.
Witnessing the results of these socio-political responses (proving more or less successful, depending on the cases), prompted me to try and look at the catastrophe as a generative event, able to crate new spatial conditions in the landscape and in the built environment. To examine this under a spatial, semantic and social point of view, I will focus my research on the case of Gibellina (Sicily) or, better to say, on the two cities of Gibellina: Gibellina la Nuova (new) and Gibellina la Vecchia (old).
In 1968 a massive seismic event destroyed the Belice Valley. Nuova Gibellina was raised twenty kilometers far from the original location of the old center as an answer to the earthquake and the trauma it produced. Here, an impressive amount of artistic and architectural interventions were carried out between the ‘70s and the early ’00s as part of a plan of cultural and identity re-birth. On the other hand, the history of the remains of the old center (Gibellina Vecchia) involve, as a key figure, the Italian artist Alberto Burri. Contrary to the reconstruction and relocation plan thought for Gibellina Nuova, Burri demanded to act in strict physical proximity with the place of the trauma. He confronted it by creating a visual repetition of the catastrophe, by making the traumatic experience perpetual and including the remains within its work with an action of reversed archeology; in other words, he created Il Grande Cretto di Gibellina.
The first part of the thesis will draw a critical historical excursus through the most significant phases of Gibellina’s process of destruction, re-location and reconstruction. The second part of the thesis will try to give a definition to Burri’s piece of art. This will allow a critical comparative analysis between the two, nearly opposite, responses to the catastrophe with their spatial, historic and social implications. In the last part of the thesis, through the analysis of recent documentaries, photography and art performances, I will highlight the present strong generational differences in the perception of the work of art and in the perception of the new city’s image; a difference in the response to the trauma and to the loss of identity.