GIUSEPPE AGNELLO "HISTORIC ARCHITECTURE": THE PROTECTION AND SAFEGUARD OF CULTURAL HERITAGE IN AESTERN SICILY

The relation between landscape and historic centre has been widely discussed in years following the Second World War. The problems of reconstruction and urban planning pushed the protagonists of Italian culture to wonder about the relation between new and old, keeping and expansion, reconstruction and modernizing. In these years, civil organisations and association play a very important role in national debate. The Italian Touring Club (TCI) was active in the moral and material reconstruction of the country. The tourism seem to be the most suitable sector to catalyse the hope of a return to an atmosphere of peace and development. Through its official magazine "Le vie d'italia", the Club fought important battles for the protection of cultural heritage. In Syracuse, Giuseppe Agnello was one of the most important protagonist of this debate. Often defined as a "historic Architecture", in reference to a particular inclination that led him to investigate the native land monuments from the III century to the XVII century. He had a depth and mature understanding of the need of knowing and protecting the local historical, cultural and natural heritage. In two reportage write for "Le vie d'Italia", Agnello denounced the building abuses, the dangers for the local monument and the massive destruction of the coastal landscape.