Carlo Alberto Maggiore

When heritage policies and benefits have gradually enabled the process of renovation of the most attractive historical cen­tres, the densest and poorest of them, not being able to count on the rescue provided by tourism, are doomed to suffer from their loss of ‘utilitas’ The double historic centre of the Sicilian city of Ragusa could be a perfect case offering an opportunity to experiment with the innovative potential of this condition. Ragusa is currently a city with the highest ratio of the real estate surface per capita in Italy. If today Ragusa Ibla regained its vitality as a tourist and nightlife destination, Ragusa Superiore needs a new and extensive regeneration process to be launched, which requires comprehensive planning strategies to be adopted and strong economic subsidies to be secured – as the first step, by organising an architectural and urban planning workshop devoted entirely to the historic centre of Ragusa Superiore, a part of a cycle of International Designing Workshops ‘Territories in Evolution” and drew on its years of experience. In any case and in each and every urban centre, basing on a general, common programme drawn up in advance, the objective of any designing workshop is to concentrate proactive skills of an international working group ‘in situ’. The Re-use Ragusa workshop very quickly unleashed a number of ideas, the effects of which can be considered specific and realistic methods of reviving the historic Ragusa. Thanks to the work during the workshop “Re-use Ragusa: Sustainable Strategies to Revive the City Centre”, the students and lectures who were lucky enough to experience the town on a daily basis: live and work here, recollecting their experience of only two weeks in the historic centre of Ragusa Superiore, demonstrated to themselves and to the town residents that positive thinking about an urban and architectural design may offer new perspectives which can creatively benefit from and enhance the already existing resources. The effects of this workshop are the fruit of successful, if unusual, cooperation between municipal authorities and administrators on the one hand and the university on the other, organising this wider highly professional international support.