The multicentric renewal of small cities through public space. The post-earthquake situation of Montorio al Vomano (TE) – Italy

Abstract

The pandemic situation pointed out the housing potential of small and medium-sized municipalities, however outlining a gap between the quality potentialities compared with their actual state. This condition intercepts, for several municipalities in Central Italy, the reconstruction needs following the earthquakes of L'Aquila (2009) and Amatrice (2016). The issue is therefore extremely topical, given the possibility for several municipalities to access EU funds to rebuild, and therefore potentially to reinvent, a new condition which starts with reconstruction but aims to the repopulation of historic nuclei. The paper will discuss the case of Montorio al Vomano, emblematic because involved in both earthquakes, and will attempt to draw a strategy for its renewal. The work will concern both the preservation of identity nuclei (the restoration of monuments, the recognition of the morphological invariants, the valorisation of natural heritage), both the renovation of abandoned or marginal areas through the implementation of public and collective spaces. Stated these epicentres, they will be connected by a network of soft mobility, translating on the territory the sense of the city built by parts, in order to create multicentric structures and identify generalizable strategic hypotheses for the revitalization of small and medium-sized villages.