Valorizzare il centro storico di Palermo: un cambio di paradigma

The contribution starts from a basic question that is whether the historical centres of large cities can escape the same destiny exclusively based on the historical heritage excellence, on tourism and cultural activity or can continue to play the role of a vital urban structure with a mix of social groups, of ordinary functions and activities as the residential one. Moreover, the historical centre tendency to transform into predominantly commercial and touristic areas has had surreal implications during the period of lockdown caused by Covid-19 pandemic, when the most valuable parts of our cities were totally emptied of human presence. This is also confirmed in the case of the historical centre of Palermo, where the touristification effect is now spreading rapidly, with a few years of delay compared to other large Italian cities. However, it is still seems possible to hypothesize a paradigm shift to rebalance current trends.