Beni Culturali e Italia Nostra

Meetings with Alessandra Vittorini and Paolo Muzi

Alessandra Vittorini is the Soprintendenza per i beni architettonici e il paesaggio per l'Abruzzo con sede a L'Aquila - the director of L'Aquila's Ministero per i Beni e le attività Culturali (the ministry for heritage and cultural activities). Having already been introduced by a colleague, we met again on the 23rd June at which time I interviewed her about her work in L'Aquila and the reconstruction of its built cultural heritage. In particular, we discussed the reconstruction plans for L'Aquila and how these have developed, and also the historic development of the city. I was made fully aware of the vast extent of the city of L'Aquila - somewhat surprising - and this entire area is under the care of Vittorini; this is highlighted in the map above, which she provided for me.

Paolo Muzi was introduced to me at the same time as Vittorini, and I met him again on 25th June. Muzi is the head of Italia Nostra dell'Aquila. Italia Nostra are the 'Association for the preservation and conservation of the environment and of the territory in Italy' - which includes the built environment. Our discussion mainly focused around the site I have chosen for my current design project - Piazza Palazzo, Piazza Margherita and Piazza dell'Annunziata. He also recommended I study two particular earthquakes as precedents - Norcia, in Umbria, which suffered a 'quake in 1997, and the Molise 'quake of 2002.