La campagna sostenibile: imparare dalla tradizione costruttiva del contado ibleo per costruire il futuro

Artifacts built in the past in a different economic and social context often contain principles that are valid for building the present and foreshadowing the future. The necessary condition for such human artifacts to be still relevant is their ability to go beyond the historical reality that generated them. Observation of the few stones still standing thus becomes the means by which to draw out those “timeless” ideas and construction principles that are the foundation of architecture. In Sicily, a particular geographical area contains a remarkable density of artefacts with these characteristics: the Hyblean plateau. Here, over time, man has succeeded in building an extraordinary landscape through a clear structuring of territory that leads from the city house, through the streets, to the country house. The buildings in the Hyblean countryside represent a lesson in sustainable living “ante litteram”, capable of guiding us today through the increasingly necessary search for new approaches to building in terms of man's impact on the environment. Through comparisons and reflections, the text will make it clear that these “new” approaches have in fact already been placed at the foundation of the construction of the Hyblean landscape and that therefore the sustainability we seek has already been achieved in the past by these small but significant country houses. The construction of the Hyblean countryside thus becomes a virtuous example of world-building from which to draw valuable lessons to be updated with today's means, capable of guiding us in imagining human life in the future, an increasingly urgent issue that can no longer be postponed given the times we live in.