Where the
Earth Quakes
Sibillini Mountains, March, on going
Among the
communities of the central Apennine
mountains, the ancient legend of the Sibyl
is told.
A woman, good fairy, seer and enchantress,
who lived in a cave on the
top of the mountain that today is named after her: Mount Sibilla.
According to
the local tradition, the Sybil provoked
an intense earthquake in the town of
Pretare.
The fairies, her maids,
remained to dance in the
village all night,
beyond the time allowed for
the return to the cave. The priestess was a
reference for the inhabitants of the mountains and for anybody who went up to
the cave to meet her.
Since 69 AD many people are reported to have ascended to
meet the priestess who predicts the future.
In this land pagan and religious
cults have intertwined. Today the cave is inaccessible, since 1960 the access
tunnel has completely collapsed.
The
story ends and the legend begins.
A desert called Foce
Sibillini Mountains, Marche
Desert in Latin has a double meaning: abandoned and neglected by people or left uncultivated. Foce di Montemonaco, a small village in the Appennine Mountains, in the heart of Italy, was severely ruined by the 2016 Central Italy Earthquake.
Nowadays only 5 people are still living in Foce and on the last summer no tourists came. Three young Romanian guys use to work in Foce as seasonal lumberjacks.
The state of abandon of this place in the middle of nothing reflects the landscape f chopped woods cut by these three workers, who themselves had to leave their home to find a job that no Italians are willing to do.
The lumber industry still survives, despite
the drop of productivity due to the earthquake.
Foce can be reached through a single road
that enters a very narrow gorge and stops right in front of the slopes of Monte
Sibilla and Monte Vettore. From there you can continue only on foot.
In the Aftermath
Sibillini mountains, Earthquake, ongoing
A year has passed since the
severe earthquake that hit central Italy.
Broken mountains, lands almost one meter crumbled, collapsed buildings,
sheds and stalls with broken roofs, rivers that have changed course, roads
that have disappeared and a land that continues to shake.
The movement of the earth has
also caused a movement of those who lived there.
The mountain community of the Sibillini Mountains is composed of many villages scattered over a very large territory.
Some are gone, someone tries
to resist. The reconstruction will last 10-15 years
and the oldest will no longer see their homes. But citizens are trying hard to
regain possession of their lives and their land.
This series is part of the
collective documentary project Lo
stato delle cose.
Apennine mountains, on going
Tempo di ritorno / Return period
tèmpo [lat. tĕmpus, di etim. discussa]
s. m.
di ritòrno [da
ritornare]
s. m.
1 Stimatore della ripetitività del fenomeno
sismico.
2 Movimento per ripensare i luoghi ai margini e
ripartire.
Return (lat. tempus, of etim. discussed)
period
1 Estimate of the likelihood of an earthquake.
2 Afterthought of marginal places.
A seguito di un precedente lavoro di documentazione per Lo Stato delle cose dei
luoghi e delle comunità colpite dal terremoto, sentiamo
l’esigenza di operare nelle comunità dall’interno scegliendo
di utilizzare il video e la fotografia non come strumenti di una
nostra narrazione, ma come strumenti che diano voce alla
narrazione della comunità stessa.
After a previous documentary project for Lo Stato delle cose dealing with communities affected by earthquake, we feel the need to move on withto use video and photography as tools that give voice to the community itself.
Abitare temporaneo - abitare a lungo termine
La ricerca si sviluppa all’interno di tre comunità montane
dell’Appennino coinvolte dal terremoto del 2016, Montegallo,
Arquata del Tronto e Amatrice, luoghi fragili sia da un punto
di vista fisico sia politico. Qui il processo di spopolamento e
abbandono già in atto è stato accentuato dalle conseguenze
del terremoto. L’urgenza di indagare queste realtà
periferiche, ma peculiari del contesto italiano, ambisce
a lavorare sulla rottura della geografia del paesaggio
che si è creata dopo il sisma. Le comunità sono rilocate
in Sae (Soluzioni abitative di emergenza), strutture
prefabbricate, smontabili e riconvertibili che si legano al
nucleo abitativo originario in modo differente a seconda
delle diverse modalità di ricostruzione. Dato il tempo
medio di ricostruzione dei borghi storici che varia da 5 a
10 anni, nel lungo periodo le aree Sae da contesti abitativi
emergenziali diventano veri e propri insediamenti dove
l’abitare temporaneo diventa permanente.
From temporary to permanent dwelling
The research focuses on three communities of the Apennines involved in the 2016 earthquake: Montegallo, Arquata del Tronto and Amatrice. Here the process of depopulation and abandonment has been accentuated by the consequences of the earthquake. We aim to investigate the way these communities recreate a new geography of the landscape after the earthquake. The communities are relocated in Emergency Housing Solutions, prefabricated structures, demountable and reconvertible that are linked to the original housing nucleus in different ways according to the different reconstruction methods. Given the average time of reconstruction of the historic villages (ranging from 5 to 10 years), in the long run the Sae areas from emergent housing contexts become real settlements where the temporary dwelling becomes permanent.
Emergency housing under construction (Sae), Montegallo, Marche, december 2017