Il deserto dei pozzi. Appunti per una nuova cartografia del Sahara. The desert of wells. Notes for a new cartography of the Sahara

The Sahara is often represented in iconography and cartography as a sinuous surface of hills: an incessant topography of sinusoidal movements in which the oases are the only moments of epiphany or interruption. This African sand sea is inhabited by an archipelago of fossil water islands from prehistoric times that occupy an area broader than the Mediterranean Sea. These islands deliver a still architecturally unexplored cartography of the desert. Aeration wells and drainage tunnels constitute a complex hypogeal architectural organism that redraws the image of the Sahara on a territorial scale. It is thus possible to represent the Sahara as a porous, excavated monolithic structure: a system of holes and tunnels that connects the elements of underground water to the plane of the anthropic surface. The well is t􀁏e ex􀁗licit fi􀁎ure o􀁍 t􀁏is tec􀁏nolo􀁎ical universe o􀁍 􀁏i􀁋􀁋en si􀁎ns an􀁋 an instru􀁔ent o􀁍 settlement organisation. The Matmata village in Tunisia consists of craters and large wells whose walls are excavated to accommodate Berber dwellings. This contribution proposes an alternative cartography of the Sahara through the hidden signs of water when drought 􀁏its Italy 􀁏ar􀁋. It 􀁘uestions t􀁏e collective an􀁋 in􀁋ivi􀁋ual 􀁔ana􀁎e􀁔ent o􀁍 our water resources􀀓 looking at the desert and its architecture as a virtuous case study.