Catania upside-down

The several archaeologies, visible in the centre of Catania, are irrelevant objects, fenced in scattered holes without any common idea. Nevertheless, these treasures are even more valuable for belonging to an extraordinary topographical context, which change not only for the usual physical overlapping of the eras. A place that changes also for the overturning of the spatiotemporal order of the town caused by the action of Etna (it is common to find in Catania the ancient level upper than the current one). The research group of architects, which we belong to, is conducting a project about Catania, focusing on his archaeological nature. In 1832 the architect Sebastiano Ittar, with his “Pianta Topografica della Città di Catania”, in addition to draw the first orthogonal plan in the history of Catania, draws all its archaeologies, affirming their active role in the town construction. Our purpose is redrawing the city laying the foundation on Ittar’s document. Our drawing aims to carry the ideas at the base of the Ittar’s Plan to the architectural scale, disclosing the capacity of the ancient invisible town to force the shape of the current visible town. The core essence of the research is considering the ancient as “active part” in the construction of the town and its little fragments as gems mounted in the urban pattern.