12 dicembre 1942. Bombe su Solunto. Storia di un fatto dimenticato

This contribution presents the traces on the ground and the archive documentation of a bombardment that took place in Solunto the night of 12 December 1942. The starting point of this research was a photograph preserved in the archives of the Regional Archaeological Museum Antonio Salinas which documents the restoration of a Solunto cistern following the bombing of the Allies. The site, in fact, was hit by a bomb which caused damage to the large masonry cistern placed near the Casa delle Maschere, at the highest point of the site. Archive research has allowed us to reconstruct the dynamics of the facts and revealed the commitment of the Superintendents to the Antiquities of Western Sicily, Jole Bovio Marconi first, Vincenzo Tusa later, profuse after the war to restore the damaged assets. Solunto, along with other towns in western Sicily, was part of the strategic sites that had hosted Italo-German military garrisons. The danger of the bombing had led the then cultural heritage managers to proceed with the protection of a large number of movable and immovable assets by moving them to safe areas or by covering them with sandbags. This fact is documented in the precious archive photos kept at the ECPAD, the military documentation center in Paris. After a first exposition of the historical facts related to the bombings of Palermo and its district, we will analyze the phases of restoration and consolidation of the assets made by the will of the two superintendents who have distinguished themselves for their tireless activity of protection of the cultural heritage that were called to administer. Jole Bovio Marconi, in fact, immediately tried to get the funds from the Marshall Plan to repair the war damage to Solunto, but these arrived only in 1951. The obtaining of these funds, disbursed by the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno, was the basis of the activities of archaeological excavation of the 60s and 70s by a young Vincenzo Tusa, whose fruits we can now see walking through the ruins of Solunto.