«Quel fortilizio tra poco sparirà». Il dibattito sul castello di Reggio Calabria nella ricostruzione post-sisma

Reggio Calabria suffered two devastating earthquakes, just over one century apart: 1783 and 1908. Giovan Battista Mori’s reconstruction project maintained the principal historical urban structures – the castle and the cathedral, but this did not happen for subsequent town plans. Above all, the castle was later seen as a useless and uncomfortable presence, due to its irregular perimeter and orientation, within a city that aimed to rectify and square its streets and blocks. A first proposal for demolition – to continue the checkerboard pattern and rehabilitate slum housing – was advanced in the 1860s, marking the start of a debate between the supporters of full demolition or total or at least partial re-use, which ended in the latter. The earthquake of 1908 forced them to reopen the debate, but it ended with the partial demolition of the bulky structures.