Reading the ancient city: projects for the archaeological area of Tyndaris. The form of the nature, the form of the city, the value of the monument

In the Mediterranean, perhaps more than elsewhere, it is possible to recognise a close network of relationships between man-made spaces, which are manifested through their form, and the territory, understood in its broadest interpretative extensions as a complex system of geographical signs and historical traces. The result is a morphological and spatial richness in which it is possible to trace multiple archaeological entities that, dotting the territory in very different landscape settings, can represent a resource and an opportunity for the redefinition of relationship between space and form, between architecture, archaeology and nature. In the perspective of a balanced construction of the inhabited spaces and the territory that hosts them, it seems useful to investigate the value content – historical and formal – of the archaeological findings as signs of the collective will, guardians of tradition and shared memory, which aspire to free themselves from the condition of “alienated fragment” to reintroduce themselves within the urban and territorial dynamics, becoming architectural elements able to determine new forms and new meanings. The paper aims to examine some of the design solutions proposed in the competition for the enhancement of the archaeological area of Tindari: a comparison that would make possible to identify some analogies in the different approaches related to the theme and the meaning of the place. The case of Tindari is of particular interest with respect to the themes proposed by the Call because the ancient city presents an urban structure that is still readable and can be made more intelligible through the project. Landscape, archaeology and urban forms, thus, constitute the poles around which the discourse could be articulated, investigating the relationship that has been lost, but which has to be re-established, between the extraordinary landscape of Messina and the archaeological presence to which is recognised the value of 'monumèntum'.