Ri-costruire identità e memoria nei centri storici

Historic centres, understood as “cities within cities,” possess a distinct language and form —a character shaped by their morphology, construction methods, materials, and their relationship with geography and topography. These elements together sustain an identity rooted in memory. The Val di Noto, in the southestern part of Sicily, is a distinctive territory characterised by ancient Mediterranean settlements of Greek foundation, shaped by the specific geography of the Hyblean landscape. The evolution of these historical centres is closely linked to the relationship with ancient forms, with historical-archaeological signs and testimonies, but at the same time they delimit a distance, a marginality within the urban fabric. This is the case of Palazzolo Acreide, the ancient Greek city of Akrai, located in the Hyblaean Mountains, on a dominant hill overlooking the Anapo Valley. It is a margin city: organised in successive ‘temporal’ bands, beginning in the north with the Medieval Castle and the first dwellings, now in ruins and disused, it is followed by the monumental area of the Basilica of San Paolo and the Mother Church, and then by the more modern quarters, still with continuity of life. We can therefore say that Palazzolo Acreide's identity can be found not only in its form, but also in the material signs of its built heritage, and the loss of memory is therefore also linked to the loss of historical heritage. The paper aims to explore the concept of memory in relation to contemporary interventions in the ancient city. It argues that restoring a place's identity today requires a conscious engagement with its built heritage, re-establishing that ancient relationship between forms and construction. The true value of such intervention lies in understanding and reactivating the settlement principles that have shaped the territory over time.