The building heritage of the early Twentieth Century. A project inspired by conscious tourism for the renovation of eclectic castles. The case of the Duke of Misterbianco castle (Catania, Italy)

The building heritage represents the unitary character of a culture that takes advantage of different linguistic structures to fully express itself, yet all attributable to a single code of expression. It also expresses the “conflict between oblivion and memory, between protection and abuse, between Viollet-le-Duc and Ruskin, between present and future, between tourism and museums, between economics and accuracy…”. Nowadays, all works addressing the building heritage acknowledge an overlapping of traces and testimonies that identify those buildings as assets to be protected, but also made available to the public. The topic of the present research is the project to restore the building heritage of the early Twentieth century addressing valuable buildings, such as castles in Sicily. In particular, the research focuses on an imposing castle located inside the protected natural area of the Simeto river, that is presently in ruins. Considering this spot’s high value from the wildlife point of view, the lack of tourist facilities and services, and the building’s strong identity, renovation and reuse strategies suggest solutions connected to the tourist development of such area. Moreover, the objective of the study is to preserve these unique testimonies of a very interesting and unique past, in a climatically, culturally and historically rich area. Such project intends to harmonise conservation and change, defining the possibilities to transform a building and enhancing its identity at the same time. Its pre-existence becomes, in this regard, the starting point and the main reference, interpreted according to a contemporary point of view.