Rebuilding a Cultural Legacy in a New Town. Reshape Physical and Cultural Continuity between Old and New Town of Gibellina

In one night the town of Gibellina was destroyed by the earthquake that hit the Belice Valley in January 1968. Enthusiastically embracing the urban theories/utopias that were on trend in the 1960s, with, however, excessive and not realistic confidence, the city was rebuilt from scratch in another site. The building of infrastructures, houses and services, albeit by means of goods conceived for a city meant to be a symbol of modernity, does not have be interpreted as a weay to donate life to a whole community. It was also necessary, indeed, to take into account issue like memory, the sense of belonging, the continuity of traditions: it became necessary to construct a new identity. Therefore, under the visionary guidance of the mayor Ludovico Corrao, Gibellina sprung out "from the creative breath of art", that gave life to a unique town qualified by the distinctive signatures of Architects such as Samonà, Gregotti, Purini, Thermes, Nicolin, Ungers, Consagra, Quaroni, Venezia. Gibellina became the land for hundreds of contemporary works of art distributed en-plein-air in the urban landscape and in museums, that turned out to be creative cells for the regeneration of the social structure. Today, 50 years after the earthquake, not a few questions are raised on how to metabolize all the innovations, in many ways distant from local traditions, introduced by the most advanced urban, architectural and artistic culture. It becomes important to render these changes a cultural legacy where inhabitants feel confident and where they actually recognize themselves with a sense of belonging, something to be preserved, to nurture and pass on to the following generations.