Nove secoli di storia e terremoti: la chiesa di S. Maria della Pace in Tremestieri Etneo (CT), Italia

Cultural heritage helps to define the identity and history of a people. European society also finds unity in its Christian origins: a great part of its cultural heritage is a witness of this. It is therefore necessary to recover, conserve and hand down this heritage; these objectives can not be achieved without an accurate knowledge of the built heritage that most often presents a much more articulated history than it transmits at first sight. This knowledge is not an end in itself but is a necessary premise to the understanding of the monument, in its articulated constructive events. Strengthened by this preliminary knowledge it is possible to "read" and interpret the signs of which the monument is full, to direct correct rehabilitation therapy. The case of "Santa Maria della Pace" church in Tremestieri Eteneo, Catania (IT) is examplary: the sacred temple seems to have temporal coherence in all its parts, although man and earthquakes that have scourged the territory, have modified its facies. Further recent interventions have not been sufficient to mitigate the progress of time and today the church presents a rather widespread crack pattern. An adequate phase of historical and constructive documentation of the church would oriented certainly, the recently rehalized operations, in a more compatible and coherent way