Chiafura. A rupestrian disctrict in Sicily between the Medievale and Contemporary Ages

Paolo Militello (Curatore)

Maimone, 2023

“Chiafùra” is the toponym of a neighborhood with around a hundred cave dwellings on the edge of the city of Scicli, in south-eastern Sicily. From a necropolis to a “rupestrian city”, the site was inhabited from the Middle Ages until the second half of the twentieth century, when the last “cave dwellers” were moved to new public housing. Contributing to the success of this final initiative were the denunciations of several artists and intellectuals (including Renato Guttuso, Carlo Levi, and Pier Paolo Pasolini), who in 1959, after a visit to the “cave dwellers”, ensured that the “Chiafura issue” resounded across the nation.Chiafura was definitively abandoned a few decades ago and is today a ghost town. Since the end of the 1970s, however, there have been numerous appeals and initiatives targeting the recovery of this historical, anthropological, and architectural heritage. It was not until 2003, however, that a project (partly commenced) for the construction of a park-museum was funded.

• Curatore: Paolo Militello
• Editore: Maimone
• Anno edizione: 2023
• In commercio dal: 19 dicembre 2023
• Pagine: 160 p., ill.
• EAN: 9788877515001