Preservation of Abandoned Historic Centres—The Case of Poggioreale antica (Sicily)

Among the fourteen towns most damaged by the earthquake that struck western Sicily in 1968, Poggioreale was subjected to total relocation a few kilometres away, and to the transfer of its whole population. More than half a century later, the damaged settlement is still largely recognisable and has been experiencing a new season of interest for some years now, both from the local community and various kinds of outsiders who imagine economic spin-offs of an uncertain nature in its enhancement. The research we present questions the chance of survival for the settlement, forgotten for decades, in the context of interventions aimed at its reuse. Alternative strategies are discussed: on the one hand, that of bringing the ancient centre back to life, even in part, with a limited inclusion of collective functions and without claiming to inhabit it again; on the other hand, and in the authors’ opinion, more likely, that of reusing the ruins as an archaeological area preserving their memory in a different form. In either case, the kinds of operations to be carried out on the body of the ancient buildings for their physical preservation play a key role. These issues are addressed as a whole through the canonical procedure of correlating the phases of knowledge, interpretation, and definition of minimal and compatible intervention criteria.