Il sistema cava-concimaia nella Fossa della Garofala a Palermo

During the 60s and 70s of the 20th century, the widespread construction of new buildings in the agricultural areas around the city centre of Palermo have changed the original landscape. A rare exception is represented by an area called Fossa della Garofala; in this place the topic of “stratification” creates a connection between the geological history and the most recent anthropogenic interventions. Here, one of the places of greatest interest where the signs of a very distant past and a very recent past gather and the epigeal and hypogeal dimensions are put in an immediate relationship is certainly the original system consisting of a quarry and a so called concimaia. If on one hand, the complex of the concimaia in particular of its underground parts has been preserved thanks to the difficulties to access that prevented its vandalization, on the other hand, this partial inaccessibility limited the possibility of maintenance and verification of its static conditions, functional to the use. The study of the underground cavity-concimaia system presented in this paper has been aimed at identifying potential risks for its safety, also with a view to its possible use by citizens.