Alcamo Marina: ricostruire il paesaggio costiero

Alcamo Marina is a seaside resort, an example of the transition of Italy, based on the agricultural sector before and on the industrial one then, and of the urban layout of the Alcamo’s area reflects this phenomenon. The main urban core, with its compact fabric, is located at the foot of Mount Bonifato, while the vast hilly municipal area is dotted with rural settlements; the country houses, progressively extended towards the coastal strip, increasingly hybridize their agricultural and pastoral productive function with that of resort houses during the twentieth century. In the years of the economic boom, this process generates or degenerates into the uncontrolled construction of building aggregates that extend along the Alcamo’s coast. Therefore, the Municipality of Alcamo today presents itself divided in two different parts, about six kilometers far apart, which alternate between winter and summer. Alcamo played an economic key role in the reconstruction of the Belìce valley, hit by the earthquake in 1968. Furthermore, from an architectural and urban point of view, its historical center of Arabian derivation was considered an example for designers during the reconstruction process. Fifty years after the earthquake, the signs are no longer visible in the Alcamo’s territory, however we can still find important traces of the reflections matured in that context, of the infrastructures and of the reconstruction projects, both realized and not. Today, the theme of reconstruction can take on a new meaning, understood not only as new construction or rehabilitation of a territory that has been destroyed by war or seismic events, but by extension as reorganization and care of a built territory. In this sense, in Alcamo, whose territory has evident fragilities but at the same time great potentialities, starting from the reconstruction of the coastal landscape represents today an important opportunity for the entire municipal area. For this reason, the ‘Villard Seminar: 19’, has reasoned around the two major themes of "reconstruction" and "fragile territories", two possible keys for interpreting future scenarios for Alcamo Marina.