Gibellina tra modelli urbanistici e progetto di città

The Belìce Valley earthquake was the first disastrous natural disaster in the history of the Italian Republic, the damage of which was exacerbated, on the one hand, by the unpreparedness for the management of natural risks and, on the other, by the vulnerability of the affected territorial context. At the time of the facts, 1968, the country lacked adequate systems for risk prevention, the protection and safety of the population and the post-seismic management of the territories. The area affected by the earthquake – the valley of the Belìce river in western Sicily – was particularly fragile due to the precariousness of socio-economic and housing conditions characterized by low income levels, poverty in the labor market, insufficient infrastructure in the area, and the scarce presence of anti-seismic building structures. The picture that emerged from the rubble of the earthquake, illuminated by the spotlight of the journalistic chronicle and suddenly revealed to the eyes of public opinion, revealed with its crude evidence the serious and long-standing failures of the State towards the South in terms of insufficient investments, mainly in the infrastructure and industrial sectors. The chapter describes the phases of the post-seismic reconstruction of the new city of Gibellina, one of the four cities entirely destroyed by the earthquake.