The reconstruction of Gibellina after the 1968 Belice earthquake

On 15 January 1968 a catastrophic earthquake struck the Belice Valley. In some cases in the reconstruction plans it was decided to abandon the old settlements and to build new ones in different places. Among these centers Gibellina was the most damaged and the town was built away from the old settlement in an area within Salemi, where the highway and the railroad converged, in an attempt to take away the new center from the isolation in which it had lived for centuries. For the reconstruction of the town a development plan was drawn up by the Institute for Social Housing Development (ISES). This Institute was assigned the task to elaborate the general plan, designed in an extensive urban model alien to the identity of the local population and itwas responsible for the primary and secondary urbanization works. At the same time the earthquake was the pretext for experimenting with significant projects by famous architects and artists, who were called to intervene in the new center. This study aims going deeply into the case of Gibellina by analyzing its urban plan. Particular attention will be given to the comparison between the old and the new urban settlement.