A place that is part of the historical collective memory not just for those who live in the “Via Daniele”, but for the entire city of Catania.
The “Daniele Quarry” shelter, in the heart of the historic district “Antico Corso”, is an anthropic quarry, a treasure chest of the historical, archaeological and geological memory of the city. An evocative space under the city of Catania that allows us to give back a piece of our past to the city, making it a founding trace for the collective design of the future.
The Via Daniele air raid shelter aims to be an experiment in the collective reactivation of a significant but abandoned space. A project in which to build a shared process of management of public heritage, which responds in an innovative way to satisfy the need for new economies and new relationships. Because there is a culturally based social economy where community practices can be truly shattering.
Officine Culturali, together with the partners of the âAntico Corsoâ Popular Committee, the Etna Speleological Center and the âLe Cave di Rosso Malpeloâ Association and with the collaboration of the community of residents, has identified in the project of the Shelter in via Daniele a way of responding to some of the needs of the city and of the inhabitants of the “Antico Corso” district, through a process of active engagement of citizens.
A place that contains the evidence of the lava flow of 1669, which acts as a ceiling showing the enormity of the volcanic force. The evidence of the quarries necessary for the reconstruction after the earthquake of 1693, and dug mostly by child miners. And also it shows the 1943 bombings of the city which caused devastation and death, but also liberation from Nazi-fascism. For 70 years it remained in oblivion under a pile of rubble, removed in 2019 during a collective initiative.
The refuge is a common good capable of giving back, to public enjoyment and understanding, a palimpsest of the modern and contemporary history of the city. It’s an instrument of historical memory, cultural knowledge, civil reflection and social innovation.
