L’uso dei complessi religiosi nelle città storiche. Il monastero della SS. Trinità a Catania

With the suppression of religious orders (1866) the monasteries were transformed, sometimes traumatically, to be adapted to new functions of collective interest. This paper constitutes a piece of a research in progress that deals with the issue of the recovery of the cultural values that these architectures have lost with the process of "modernization". These values have been related to contemporary needs; furthermore, these monumental complexes can become fulcrums for the regeneration of the historic district in which they are located. Particularly, for the former monastery of SS. Trinità (currently used as school), sited in the historic centre of Catania, we propose an integrated intervention that answers to functional but also cultural needs. We have evaluated the opportunity to establish relationships (material and not) between monastery and urban context and, at the architectural scale, between the historic building and open space (the ancient cloister), today occupied by modern additions. The project, between the evocation of the past and the refurbishment of the existing building, moves in the difficult balance between innovation and conservation of the stratifications, addressing two interrelated themes: the vocation of cultural heritage to school use and the cultural, environmental and social sustainability of the design choices.