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Piazza Falloni in Monteiasi (Province of Taranto)
Piazza Falloni in Monteiasi (Province of Taranto)
Monteiasi, Italy
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Piazza Falloni in Monteiasi (Province of Taranto)
Monteiasi, Italy
Puglia is an extraordinary place. Solar, harsh,
blue. The sun, exaggeratedly Mediterranean, strongly influences and describes
the places, the humanized spaces and its nature. This nature is characterized
by white calcareous rock which exalts the colours of the sky and the sea when
they meet on the horizon.
The places, cities and villages are sun-washed,
morphologically and typologically referable to
plants famous of this Mediterranean area's history. Miletus, Ghardaia,
Greek and Croatian coasts are recognizable in their urban stretches.
Monteiasi is in the middle of the region, near
Taranto, a few kilometres from the Ionian Sea. Between Taranto and Grottaglie
(town known for its caves and pottery).
Going down the freeway which connects Taranto to
Grottaglie, Monteiasi suddenly and unexpectedly appears, after a quick passage
on a hummock by which the panorama is dominated.
The Town Hall is the first building you find along
the main street, which faces onto the Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista and, after
a dozen or so of metres, the council house, facing onto Piazza Falloni, the
site of the project.
This is the heart of the inhabited centre of
Monteiasi, an urban knot around which the main public and private buildings of
the little town are gathered: Palazzo Ducale, Ex Townhall and Chiesa matrice
together with Torre dell'Orologio.
The square is moderate: two hundred and fifty
square metres enshrouded by dense buildings which conform to a sort of
"city planning" of internal open spaces, composition of courtyards",
in a typically Southern urban construction, with a reserved character sometimes
almost introverted .
Before the recent upgrading
intervention, the square was in a state of imminent degradation. The square was
open to traffic and characterized by a sort of patchwork of different pavings,
patched up over time (clinker, asphalt, concrete and so on ). Kerbstones and
steel sleeping policemen, fortuitous plantations of trees, an unhomogeneous
lighting system and, lastly, untidy random parking spaces ended the scene.
During 2005, the Town Council decided to start
from the upgrading of city's historic centre. It chose to start with Piazza
Falloni, the symbolic place of the centre: even the former Townhall was facing
onto this square. In this way a national call for bids was advertised (former
Merloni law) and the tender was won by Studio
Bradaschia of Trieste which decided to avail, in the place, of the
collaboration of Studio Netti Valente in Bari.
The financing was scarce: 60.000 Euros on the
economic front, with a not more than 40.000 Euros for works.
The recovery project idea of this part of the town
is very simple: redesigning the space thus making it united and pedestrian and
at the same time realizing a parking area congruent with the memory of the
site.
The language chosen to re-adapt this space moves
wisely between tradition and innovation,
creating a contemporary space in continuity with the history of the
place. A space able to catch and convey the atmosphere, the emotions, the
colours, of the square in its context.
The colour – aesthetic choice is almost forced:
calcareous rock of Trani. White and beautiful, refined such as only pure
calcium carbonate can be, and harmonious, in the pale colours of the building
in Puglia, and, still, almost reflecting the blues and the azures.
Considering the exiguity of the space, it was
opted for a design tailored to the paving texture. The idea was to evoke the
rocky courses of the monuments of the famous baroque of Lecce, the geometry of
the vernacular architecture of Taranto's old city facing the "small
sea" (the small internal gulf where fishing boats shelter). To emphasize
the place. Still few signs. A central "carpet", to bound with a small
green flower-bed where a symbol-tree will grow, a maritime pine, the tree of
the Italian Mediterranean coasts but not only (Croatian, Dalmatian, French,
Spanish, but also Greek). And a seat, a bench, to remind one of the "seats": as the historical municipal
building was called. Here people met, sitting, along the street, to
discuss, politics and anything
characterizing life in the small pre-television communities. And, lastly, the
introduction of pottery, the local craft, the material produced locally, small
tesserae in green pottery (emeralds), to
make the central "carpet" of the square precious.
Minimalist lighting – aimed at highlighting the
chromatisms and the volume of empty space, or better, of empty spaces (the
square, the porch, the urban space) – completes the project.
A poetical project, which teaches how it is
possible to significantly improve the daily spaces of our existence, even by
little gestures, of familiar lexicon.
blue. The sun, exaggeratedly Mediterranean, strongly influences and describes
the places, the humanized spaces and its nature. This nature is characterized
by white calcareous rock which exalts the colours of the sky and the sea when
they meet on the horizon.
The places, cities and villages are sun-washed,
morphologically and typologically referable to
plants famous of this Mediterranean area's history. Miletus, Ghardaia,
Greek and Croatian coasts are recognizable in their urban stretches.
Monteiasi is in the middle of the region, near
Taranto, a few kilometres from the Ionian Sea. Between Taranto and Grottaglie
(town known for its caves and pottery).
Going down the freeway which connects Taranto to
Grottaglie, Monteiasi suddenly and unexpectedly appears, after a quick passage
on a hummock by which the panorama is dominated.
The Town Hall is the first building you find along
the main street, which faces onto the Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista and, after
a dozen or so of metres, the council house, facing onto Piazza Falloni, the
site of the project.
This is the heart of the inhabited centre of
Monteiasi, an urban knot around which the main public and private buildings of
the little town are gathered: Palazzo Ducale, Ex Townhall and Chiesa matrice
together with Torre dell'Orologio.
The square is moderate: two hundred and fifty
square metres enshrouded by dense buildings which conform to a sort of
"city planning" of internal open spaces, composition of courtyards",
in a typically Southern urban construction, with a reserved character sometimes
almost introverted .
Before the recent upgrading
intervention, the square was in a state of imminent degradation. The square was
open to traffic and characterized by a sort of patchwork of different pavings,
patched up over time (clinker, asphalt, concrete and so on ). Kerbstones and
steel sleeping policemen, fortuitous plantations of trees, an unhomogeneous
lighting system and, lastly, untidy random parking spaces ended the scene.
During 2005, the Town Council decided to start
from the upgrading of city's historic centre. It chose to start with Piazza
Falloni, the symbolic place of the centre: even the former Townhall was facing
onto this square. In this way a national call for bids was advertised (former
Merloni law) and the tender was won by Studio
Bradaschia of Trieste which decided to avail, in the place, of the
collaboration of Studio Netti Valente in Bari.
The financing was scarce: 60.000 Euros on the
economic front, with a not more than 40.000 Euros for works.
The recovery project idea of this part of the town
is very simple: redesigning the space thus making it united and pedestrian and
at the same time realizing a parking area congruent with the memory of the
site.
The language chosen to re-adapt this space moves
wisely between tradition and innovation,
creating a contemporary space in continuity with the history of the
place. A space able to catch and convey the atmosphere, the emotions, the
colours, of the square in its context.
The colour – aesthetic choice is almost forced:
calcareous rock of Trani. White and beautiful, refined such as only pure
calcium carbonate can be, and harmonious, in the pale colours of the building
in Puglia, and, still, almost reflecting the blues and the azures.
Considering the exiguity of the space, it was
opted for a design tailored to the paving texture. The idea was to evoke the
rocky courses of the monuments of the famous baroque of Lecce, the geometry of
the vernacular architecture of Taranto's old city facing the "small
sea" (the small internal gulf where fishing boats shelter). To emphasize
the place. Still few signs. A central "carpet", to bound with a small
green flower-bed where a symbol-tree will grow, a maritime pine, the tree of
the Italian Mediterranean coasts but not only (Croatian, Dalmatian, French,
Spanish, but also Greek). And a seat, a bench, to remind one of the "seats": as the historical municipal
building was called. Here people met, sitting, along the street, to
discuss, politics and anything
characterizing life in the small pre-television communities. And, lastly, the
introduction of pottery, the local craft, the material produced locally, small
tesserae in green pottery (emeralds), to
make the central "carpet" of the square precious.
Minimalist lighting – aimed at highlighting the
chromatisms and the volume of empty space, or better, of empty spaces (the
square, the porch, the urban space) – completes the project.
A poetical project, which teaches how it is
possible to significantly improve the daily spaces of our existence, even by
little gestures, of familiar lexicon.
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