I progetti di Carmelo Sciuto-Patti per lo “Spedale medico per la città e mandamento di Giarre” (1866)

This paper aims to tell the story of the project of the Medical hospital for Giarre, a town in the province of Catania, later known as Ospedale San Giovanni di Dio e Sant’Isidoro, designed in 1866 by one of the protagonists of the architectural scene in Sicily in the second half of the 19th century, the engineer and architect Carmelo Sciuto-Patti (1829-1898) from Catania. This professional was entrusted with the task of equipping Giarre with a modern hospital, meeting up-to-date health and hygiene criteria that determined the choice of site, typology and the architectural, technical and plant engineering solutions defining the complex. The study, based on a read ing of the archival documentation, including the project report and related graphical drawings, as well as direct observation of the building, made it possible to outline the design process and examine the building in detail, placing the case study within a broader program of reforms concerning the redevelopment of the urban center and the need to update the hospitals, a theme that affected the entire country from the post-unification period.