{"id":7539,"date":"2021-02-25T19:09:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T18:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/full.polito.it\/reader\/5-citadel-of-alexandria\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T15:26:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T14:26:24","slug":"5-citadel-of-alexandria","status":"publish","type":"reader","link":"https:\/\/full.polito.it\/en\/reader\/5-citadel-of-alexandria\/","title":{"rendered":"#5 &#8211; Citadel of Alessandria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Citadel of Alessandria is a fortified building complex, whose layout dates back to the second half of the 18th century, located close to the Tanaro River and overlooking the city of Alessandria. The only fortress on the plain built by the Savoy family, it is also the only one of its kind \u00e0 la Vauban to have been preserved intact in its complete layout and perceptible in its unity, geometry, and material.<br\/>Due to its sheer size\u2014115,000 m\u00b2 of buildings, corresponding to 600,000 m\u00b2 of fortifications\u2014the Citadel requires an innovative approach that combines conservation needs, possible reuses, and economic and managerial sustainability. It is not conceivable here to retrace recent experiences\u2014albeit successful ones\u2014such as the restoration of the Venaria Reale and its conversion into a museum. In this respect, the Citadel represents a recurring condition in the protection of large-scale, \u2018low-density\u2019 heritage sites. Military, but also industrial, complexes in locations and contexts where it is unthinkable to \u2018heritageize\u2019 them with the sole aim of preserving them as historical evidence, but where it is also not legitimate to use the buildings indiscriminately as \u2018containers\u2019 for a wide variety of uses or, worse still, to select certain elements to be handed down to the future, eliminating others. A new approach is needed here, which we call adaptive reuse.<br\/>We propose this based on our reading of the last quarter century of events at the Citadel, even before its final decommissioning. Rather than large top-down projects\u2014almost all of which ran aground on the rock of the disproportion between available funds and necessary costs\u2014it was a myriad of small and large bottom-up initiatives, and the Administration&#8217;s decision to allow and support them, that contributed to making the Citadel continuously used and therefore also known, loved, and protected. These initiatives have made the Citadel\u2014thanks also to the new bridge over the Tanaro River, which has brought it closer to the city\u2014a lively and popular public place.<br\/>This experience is the seed of our incremental, phased approach to the project and the lightweight management model we propose.<br\/>The definition of the phases and their sequence is based on the recognition of the specific characteristics of the various buildings and open spaces, so that the phases of intervention progressively restore spaces and complexes that are consistent with their use, through a minimal set of interventions ranging from simple preservation to the inclusion of the minimum devices necessary for safe use and, where necessary, comfort. The first tranche of funding thus becomes the trigger\u2014with immediate repercussions\u2014for an extensive and open program of adaptive reuse which, governed by a sustainable management model\u2014a mixed-ownership exhibition center\u2014will be able to attract public and private operators.<br\/>In light of the funding currently available (\u20ac34 million in total), the reuse strategy developed involves a program of specific and light interventions aimed at both halting the deterioration of the works\u2014buildings and structures\u2014and restoring their functionality.<br\/>In light of the funding currently available (\u20ac34 million in total), the reuse strategy developed envisages a program of targeted and light interventions aimed both at halting the deterioration of the works\u2014buildings and fortifications\u2014and at activating a peaceful reconquest of the Citadel, strengthening what is already in place through the construction of a support platform capable of attracting international flows.<br\/>The start of the Citadel construction site will also mark the start of a major knowledge project which, based on what initial historical, archaeological, archival, technical, and design investigations have already revealed, will make the Citadel of Alessandria one of the central locations in the international debate on heritage, conservation, and the reuse of what our past has left us as a living legacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Citadel of Alessandria is a fortified building complex, whose layout dates back to the second half of the 18th century, located close to the Tanaro River and overlooking the city of Alessandria. The only fortress on the plain built by the Savoy family, it is also the only one of its kind \u00e0 la [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4361,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"reader-category":[351,352],"primo-piano":[],"research-tag":[296,329],"research-tematictag":[245],"class_list":["post-7539","reader","type-reader","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","reader-category-quaderni-full-en","reader-category-report-en","research-tag-architecture","research-tag-non-performing-legacy","research-tematictag-just-transition"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>#5 - Citadel of Alessandria - FULL | the Future Urban Legacy Lab<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/full.polito.it\/en\/reader\/5-citadel-of-alexandria\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"#5 - Citadel of Alessandria - FULL | the Future Urban Legacy Lab\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Citadel of Alessandria is a fortified building complex, whose layout dates back to the second half of the 18th century, located close to the Tanaro River and overlooking the city of Alessandria. 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