Methods and strategies for the sustainability of the historic built-up: studies and preliminary analyses on the “Monte” quarter in Piazza Armerina

The essay considers the relationship between conservation and sustainability with specific regard to the “Monte” quarter in Piazza Armerina. On the basis of the most recent literature, the first part discusses criteria and methods to address the issue of energy efficiency in existing buildings. The second part presents the results of the preliminary analyses and of the conclusions achieved after the implementation of energy efficiency improvement measures in some buildings of this historic quarter. The study was carried out at two levels. A preliminary analysis was conducted at the block scale. It aimed at identifying the building units which had suffered invasive transformations or radical substitutions and, therefore, should be seen as “weak” areas. In this respect, these buildings may represent the objects of the most impacting operations. The second level concerned the evaluation of different available interventions at the building scale, with a view to the energy efficiency improvement in terms of consumption and heat loss abatement as well as of enhancement of the historic buildings’ bioclimatic capacity. In order to carry out a preliminary evaluation of their compatibility, reversibility and retractability, we applied to our case study the suitable technical solutions and accomplished a comparison of the different “scenarios” of energy efficiency improvement.