Principi gestaltici e progetto urbano : un rilievo critico della Catania settecentesca

Abstract This paper aims to recount an experience of critical analysis of the urban form in the histor- ic center of Catania, performed by Ugo Cantone in the early ’70s. The goal is to understand the method and the principles beneath his research. These allowed a Gestalt urban survey to recon- struct a historical framework to comprehend the evolution of the concept of space in the Ba- roque Catania. This survey must be intended as a “reverse design process” aimed at constructing the environmental awareness needed for future projects, analyzing pre-existing historic buildings and their continuity, to understand architectur- al and urban design methodologies employed by 18th century architects to achieve “[...] the highest psychological fluidity between formal elements”. In other words, the purpose is to reflect on an emblematic method of urban analysis inspired by the organic principle of “adaption”. This is in- tended as a necessary critical perspective to suit- ably add a new element – such as a new architec- ture – to a context, guaranteeing its “survival” in a complex organic system like the phenomenal reality of a Baroque city. Cantone performed an operational survey, defining the tools for the per- ceptive analysis of the dynamic tensions within a gestalt field of urban space, where the “dimen- sion of the environment” is commensurate with people’s visual fruition modalities.