Città sospese fra capi e fiumare. Strategie identitarie.

Most of the Italian architectural heritage is enclosed in small towns. The latter, excluded from the great post-war transformations, preserve the identity of a place in the unaltered architectural heritage. The network of small towns on the Sicilian Ionian coast is the perfect field of investigation for a research that aims to experiment the potential of drawing. In fact, these small towns preserve the cultural and architectural identity of this portion of Sicily; they are rooted in same economic and cultural substratum, and have preserved, at least in part, an autochthonous language both in the architecture and in urban morphological structure. The research that concerns them has been designed to be sustainable. It takes into account not only the growth of scientific knowledge, through the new documentation, but also involves the social and, indirectly, the economic sphere. Firstly, the research amplifies the visibility of the centres using a common communication strategy that represents the cities as the nodes of a single network. Secondly, the “broad” and “attractive communication” involves a large audience and increases the awareness of the value of heritage and the sense of belonging. Strengthening the emotional bond between the local community and the urban scenario is, in my opinion, the first step for a process of safeguarding and sustainable conservation. In fact, the research tries to interpret some needs that the enhancement of this territory requires: the digital transition; communication strategies and the identity of places.