The Belìce Valley is located in the western part of Sicily, shared between the territories of the three former provinces of Palermo, Trapani, and Agrigento (Italy). At 2.01.09 (GMT) on 15 January 1968, this area of western Sicily was hit by a 6.41 Mw earthquake. This seismic event caused about 370 deaths and severe damage to 14 villages, four of these (Gibellina, Poggioreale, Salaparuta and Montevago) were completely destroyed. The stark reality of the destruction of entire urban settlements followed by the top-down rewriting of the local identities induced 1 ) a generalized de-territorialization as a strategy of the government bodies aimed to facilitate the population decrease in the Belìce Valley and 2) the foundation of new cities, such as the “new” Gibellina (about 10 km from the original site and rebuilt in a part of the village of Salemi territory), the “new” Poggioreale (3 km away from the original site) and the “new” Salaparuta (also 3 km away from the original site), to which it is possible to add Montevago. In this work we attempt an innovative way of reading the legacy of that dramatic event based on a double-sided approach: 1) an analysis of the deterritorialization and reterritorialization process based on a geoeconomic approach and 2) a detailed framing, through special geovisual tools, of the paths of the regeneration process to verify whether the “new” interaction between humans and nature has reached an adequate level. We address the technical issue of rephotography as a powerful and rapid method to observe the changes or territorial stasis following the earthquake. This approach is based on the collection of historical photographs and, subsequently, on-site activities for the creation of a contemporary archive of images. This double analysis introduces us to a new perspective where, in our opinion, it is possible to frame some characteristics of the Belìce Valley and some more general aspects useful for other territories affected by destructive events and that must face choices regarding the future of their communities.
The 1968 Earthquake in Belìce Valley (Sicily, Italy): Evolution of a human and natural landscape as a tool for a backward analysis of a rebuilding process in a rural area
Petino, GianniSecondo
Methodology
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2025-01-01
Abstract
The Belìce Valley is located in the western part of Sicily, shared between the territories of the three former provinces of Palermo, Trapani, and Agrigento (Italy). At 2.01.09 (GMT) on 15 January 1968, this area of western Sicily was hit by a 6.41 Mw earthquake. This seismic event caused about 370 deaths and severe damage to 14 villages, four of these (Gibellina, Poggioreale, Salaparuta and Montevago) were completely destroyed. The stark reality of the destruction of entire urban settlements followed by the top-down rewriting of the local identities induced 1 ) a generalized de-territorialization as a strategy of the government bodies aimed to facilitate the population decrease in the Belìce Valley and 2) the foundation of new cities, such as the “new” Gibellina (about 10 km from the original site and rebuilt in a part of the village of Salemi territory), the “new” Poggioreale (3 km away from the original site) and the “new” Salaparuta (also 3 km away from the original site), to which it is possible to add Montevago. In this work we attempt an innovative way of reading the legacy of that dramatic event based on a double-sided approach: 1) an analysis of the deterritorialization and reterritorialization process based on a geoeconomic approach and 2) a detailed framing, through special geovisual tools, of the paths of the regeneration process to verify whether the “new” interaction between humans and nature has reached an adequate level. We address the technical issue of rephotography as a powerful and rapid method to observe the changes or territorial stasis following the earthquake. This approach is based on the collection of historical photographs and, subsequently, on-site activities for the creation of a contemporary archive of images. This double analysis introduces us to a new perspective where, in our opinion, it is possible to frame some characteristics of the Belìce Valley and some more general aspects useful for other territories affected by destructive events and that must face choices regarding the future of their communities.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
