Tourism and valorization: an eco-museum in the quarries of Canicattini Bagni (SR), Italy

Tourism and valorization: an eco-museum itinerary in the quarries of Canicattini Bagni (SR), Italy. Valorization is operation of putting into value or, in a figurative sense, the exaltation of qualities… of things, previously neglected. Therefore, it is a cultural operation which it can promote conservation measures, for the maintenance of the good and the possibility of passing it on over time. It addresses two aspects of conservation: the physical complex and its stratifications, functionality and usability. It adds, then, a transversal thought that system the object and its components; the valorization is applied to urban and territorial contexts smaller, where the value is represented by the together. It has objectives focused on the present that integrate the architectural heritage with the contemporary, helping to strengthen its social and economic developments and defining its identity roots. Valorization is the last step of an consolidated process that sees, the first steps of a path of research and project, based on the concepts of transience, irretrievability and impact on the social system, in studies on knowledge and conservation of assets, in an ordinary built environment. In them, the focus is not on protection or market values, but on the“life in service of goods” and on the cultural value of the public heritage. Valorization, born from different disciplinary contributions, consolidated in fifty years, has had very different values and languages, sometimes conflicting, without having a shared theory and practice Today, among the new categories of intervention of recovery, it assumes a role of connection between past and future and highlights material and intangible resources that assets hold. If the local populations perceive valorization in a positive way, they can and will want to improve and protect the territory, stimulating the tourist development, preserving and spreading over time their traditions. Eco-museums have these goals and are a good project strategy, in which the museum is ecological, aimed at the development of cultural life, tourism and the economy. The ecomuseum, although dating back to the 60’s and 70’s, remains an expression of community and its population; it is interested in the environment in its entirety and uses the always valid concept of“collective community” and not of “permanent collection”. in the ecomuseum, ordinary assets find the only possible reuse strategy through a systemic approach to the set of material and immaterial elements. Uncontaminated landscapes, between the coast and the mountains, define the territory of Canicattini Bagni, in the province of Syracuse, east gate of the Iblei Mountains, city of Music and Liberty, at the center of a network of quarries, natural and artificial, rich in flora and fauna, which intercepts a series of buildings and infrastructures, now useless. This territory, identified as “cultural landscape” (defined by the Unesco World Heritage Committee), is a geographical area that represents the work of nature and man, in which cultural heritage is not confined only to the limited urban area but also to its rural areas. The eco-museum route is the link between the baroque of the Val di Noto, the archaeological areas of Syracuse and the Necropolis of Pantalica, in an attractive mix of nature, landscape and culture. This research aims to reappropriate the existing architecture, amplifying its functionality, respecting its true essence, using the built to mark the intervention project indelibly, at various scales. In this sense, the eco-museum intervention helps to revive the heritage within its community, to enhance the territory and to strengthen the tourist aspect, a fundamental element of the contemporary economy.