Memorie e tracce scomparse di una città fortificata: il caso studio di Cosenza

The essay aims to analyse historical-critical and typological reading of Cosenza city, by highlighting the rarefied traces of the glorious castle-village that, for centuries, has characterized the historic centre. The historical nucleus analysed has inexorably changed over the centuries: events, earthquakes and wars have written and rewritten its history, restoring it with an almost completely different appearance from its original conformation. In fact, today the city appears with an eighteenth-century face that hides vestiges that are more ancient and a purely medieval layout. Due to these stratifications, remains little of the fortified aspect of the city: the castle, dominating the Pancrazio hill, remains witness of this historical, plant and urban aspect. Instead, the ancient walls, the towers and doors that once made up the castle-village appear totally disappeared. Through the reading of archival documents and documentary sources, as well as urban planning, typological and material aspects, therefore, this essay wants to bring the ancient face of the city back to light and collective memory, reconstructing its fortified system and relocating some important parts, today forgotten or completely disappeared.