Il recupero dei valori: la memoria, l'acqua, il territorio come identità degli edifici termali storici in disuso

At the end of the 19th century a thermal architecture and a hotel were built on a private initiative in Acireale, a baroque town overlooking the sea (eastwards) and Etna (northwards. In 1950 the historic thermal baths became public property and were subjected to several constructive stratifications that altered their original aspect. Neglected for over a decade, the “awakening” of this historic thermal building is now strongly felt by the local community. The aim of the paper is to consider if and how these historical baths, set in a wonderful landscape, will recover the original use, updating it according to environmental, cultural and economic needs of the contemporary society. For this reason, the cognitive and design phases have been carried out according to a systemic approach, able to relate memory of use, current vocation of both building and environmental context, identity factors and instances of the current thermal baths, based on the concept of care and wellbeing. The proposal for a new use, respectful of the past (historic and cultural layers) and the present (new type of users and tourism), should be seen in a network of cultural, economic, environmental resources of the built environment.