1,745,445 research outputs found
Trade as a cultural identity aspect in a city. A case study on Catania
Full text linkIn the present-day post-industrial society and in a globalised economy there is a strong tendency towards standardization and homologation. If we consider one of the most traditional urban functions - the commercial one - analysing what is happening in the centre of the cities of all the developed countries of the world, we notice a process of standardization regarding the offer, both in the sense of the single articles sold and in the sense of the commercial area in all its complexity (uniformity of the showcases for the exposure, diminution of the historical shops with sale of distinctive articles, diffusion of the branches of national and international chains and the phenomenon of franchising). Therefore, the central areas of our cities tend to be more and more alike. Obviously this is fruit of a more complex process, that is concretized in the tendency towards the diversification of the distributive network through the rapid diffusion of hypermarkets and commercial centres in the outskirts of cities and in the changed behaviour of the consumers, more and more directed to American styles of consumption. What kind of role will the more traditional commercial structures that characterize the Italian historical centres have in the future? Despite the fact that these last ones are, at the moment, under considerable pressure that pushes towards a more radical change, there is the possibility however that the particular "commercial landscape" that characterizes them could itself become a new model of development capable of promoting the urban culture, close to the functionalistic model, currently in expansion, totally directed towards the peripheral spaces. Catania is a city where we find, to a great extent, the evolutionary characteristics of the southern urban system, but in which we find even more the changes and the tendencies present in the cities of the more developed regions when processes of decentralization of economic activities, residential activities and of the social structures are outlined. The commercial patrimony of Catania, besides the cultural one, represents one of the pivots on which the identity of the city is based. It represents a resource for the development of the town and a stimulation of tourism. This research investigates the solidity and the potentialities of traditional commerce in the central areas of the city of Catania in relation to the dynamics of development of the external commercial centres.
Problems and contradictions in the constitution of a southern european metropolitan area: Catania
Full text linkThe Metropolitan Area of Catania has been created with a Regional law of 1986 (together with that of Palermo and Messina). With its 27 municipalities and for its characteristics it resembles, more than any other area in Sicily, a Metropolitan Area (MA), that is, a complex urban system in continuos evolution and at an advanced stage of the urban life cycle. However, it is still possible to trace some incongruous elements in the creation of such a system: a) the decentralisation process of function and activities, with respect to the main urban core, is at a very early stage; b) the main urban core still has difficulties to attract highly technological tertiary activities and strategic services which would allow a connection between the local, the national and the global level; c) the medium and small size centres have a low functional specialisation and are identified by highly hierarchical relationships; d) the MA has a weak cohesion in terms of economic and functional relations. The ambiguity of the relationships among the different centres, their low level of specialisation and the strong hierarchical dependency of the peripheral ones represent an obstacle to the creation of the Metropolitan Government of the area of Catania. This appears as a top down manoeuvre without solid territorial basis and with persistence of contradictory elements in the development and consolidation of the MA. This does not mean that a system to govern the MA would not be necessary to strengthen the evolution of Catania urban complex. This evolution has, in fact, known a clear intensification in the last ten years and has shown how urgent it is for this Government to realise socio-economic, infrastructural and cultural policies capable of accelerating the ongoing process. It is also essential for this Government to make its choices without incorporating automatically the power of local autonomies, but by reaching agreements on common issues.
Actors and resources of an evolving local system. The processes that involve Catania, a dynamic reality in a low developed region
Full text linkSince the second half of the ''''70s, a great crisis has hit the local system of Catania, - which is the most important town in the North-east of Sicily - both in its economical aspects and in its social and political ones. In the ''''90s, nevertheless, the city has been interested by deep transformations which have caused new actors and innovative resources to emerge. During the years of crisis, the Catania local system was based on the building industry and on the public expenditure that have nourished clientelistic and also illegal activities. In fact the public expense played a very important role in the economic development of Sicilian society, where most of the industrial enterprises worked in protected sectors. A few exceptions regarded SMEs with innovative capabilities and larger firms depending from an exogenous management. From this point of view, the authors of this paper will try to draw a clear picture of the changes happened in the last decade in the Catania socio-economic system, pinpointing its ability of nourishing new initiatives in high technology sectors and attracting others from the outside, thanks to the new political atmosphere present in the city and its ambitious aspiration to became an important node in the Mediterranean Basin. Some of the actors of these changes are a group of innovative entrepreneurs, the local University and a new class of politicians more sensitive to the economic and social development of the community.
«Questa sì deliziosa e cospicua parte dell’Isola». Il Valle di Catania nei discorsi degli intendenti
Full text linkNel 1817, a pochi mesi dalla nascita di quell’entità statuale nuova denominata Regno delle Due Sicilie, re Ferdinando I di Borbone estende ai “domini al di là del Faro” quanto in termini di amministrazione già era in opera nella parte continentale del regno. La riforma amministrativa, adottata sul modello francese, ha la sua punta di diamante nell’intendente, figura di ampio spessore politico e di grande potere all’interno del macchinoso ingranaggio gestionale civile del regno rinnovato. Catania, in particolare, sembra accogliere con entusiasmo le novità apportate dal nuovo sistema amministrativo. Leggere tra le righe alcuni dei “discorsi” pronunciati, in forma pubblica, dai diversi intendenti che si succedettero a capo del Valle di Catania nella parabola borbonica significa, dunque, compenetrarsi in una realtà urbana in deciso movimento, spesso in evoluzione, non di rado alle prese con tensioni interne ed esterne, ma sempre e comunque in vivace attività.In 1817, a few months after the birth of the new state called “Regno delle Due Sicilie”, king Ferdinand I of Bourbon extends to the “domini al di qua del Faro” the same urban administration of the peninsular part of the kingdom. The “intendente” is the most important and powerful figure of the administrative reform, based on the French model. Catania, in particular, seem to welcome with enthusiasm this new administrative system. Reading among the lines of some of the “speeches”, pronounced in a public form by different “intendenti” of the Valley of Catania during the Bourbon’s kingdom means, therefore, to enter into an urban context in constant motion, often in evolution, frequently with internal and external tensions, but always dynamic
Le mura e il sacro: difesa e devozione nella Catania antica
Full text linkCatania fu provvista di mura sin dall’età arcaica: resti della cinta muraria sono stati identificati in diversi punti della città; tuttavia, come testimoniano gli eventi che coinvolsero il centro urbano nel corso dei secoli, la cinta muraria non bastò a preservare lacittà dagli attacchi dei nemici. Si rendeva necessario, quindi, il ricorso a una protezione soprannaturale, prima assicurata dagli dei pagani, poi dal Dio dei cristiani tramite l’intercessione dei santi: è così che possono essere interpretati i ritrovamenti di fossette votive a ridosso dei confini cittadini, segno di rituali sacrificali databili nel corso del IIIsec. a.C. Catania godette in seguito di un lungo periodo di pace, interrotto solo occasionalmente, e che culminò con le invasioni del V e del VI secolo: tra il IV e il VI sec.d.C., quando la città disponeva di una cinta muraria non bastevole a fronteggiare eventuali invasioni, la cui minaccia si fece sempre più concreta, il bisogno di protezione dei Catanesi fu colmato dal trasferimento lungo la cinta muraria dei resti mortali della martire Agata. Catania’s walls dated back to the Archaic period: remains of walls have been found in various parts of the city; however, as the events that have affected the citycentre over the centuries show, the walls were not sufficient to protect the city from enemy attacks. Therefore, it was necessary to seek supernatural protection, first from pagangods, then from the God of the Christians through the intercession of the saints:this is how we can interpret the discovery of votive pits near the city limits, a sign of sacrificial rituals dating from the 3rd century BC. Catania then enjoyed a long, only occasionally interrupted, period of peace which culminated in the invasions of the 5th and6th centuries: between the 4th and 6th centuries, when the city’s walls did not offer sufficientprotection against possible invasions, the threat of which was becoming more and more pressing, Catania’s need for protection was satisfied by the transfer of the martyr Agatha’s mortal remains to a site by the city walls
Filosofia e storia del diritto negli studi di Alfonso Catania
No full textIl 9 giugno 2023, nell’ambito della tavola rotonda su «Conoscenza, volontà e diritto», organizzata presso il Dipartimento di Scienze Giuridiche dell’Università degli Studi di Salerno, in occasione della pubblicazione del volume omonimo di Studi in memoria di Alfonso Catania, a cura di G. Preterossi, F. Mancuso, V. Giordano, G. Bisogni (Giappichelli, Torino 2023), ha svolto un intervento su «Filosofia e storia del diritto negli studi di Alfonso Catania»
The urban strategic planning in the peripherical regions: the case of Catania (Sicily)
Full text linkMore and more regional development appears as an effect of the role that cities are able to carry out in the territory. This implies reconsidering not only resources which are available to a city but, above all, its ability to organize urban activities and functions. If these considerations have already found careful appraisal in the most developed regions, by means of the renewal of instruments for the strategic planning of cities, it seems still insufficient the use of these new planning instruments in the less developed regions, although their primary role in the processes of local development. In Southern Italy, for instance, the proliferation of financial support from various sources (E.U., National Government and Regional ones), which imposes plans at different scales (the interregional one, the among cities one and the among suburbs one), and the emergence of actors and stakeholders, also within the presence of public order problems and infrastructural deficiencies, constitute a network that bridles and conditions the city activities and functions, on one side, but can also be a set of occasions that - if used - can push the city towards development itineraries, on the other side. With our paper we propose to compare some experiences of strategic planning in the Southern Italy and to analyse the case of Catania (a central city in an Objective 1 region, Sicily), putting in evidence how the new Plans give order to the activities and the functions of the city, trying to achieve one balanced and sustainable development, by means of the recovery of urban identity.
Interview with Raymond Catania
Full text linkRaymond Catania was among the 32 persons arrested on May 11, 1971 in Kalama Valley, protesting the eviction of farmers and Native Hawaiians
A case of Racial Discrimination: Azeglio Bemporad, astronomer poet
Full text linkA case of racial discrimination : Azeglio Bemporad, who worked at Catania Astrophysical Observatory until 1938, year of purge against Jews in Italy
Istruzione e società. Percorsi formativi nella Catania borbonica
No full textL’analisi delle tappe attraverso cui, tra Rivoluzione e Unità, si sostanzia l’istruzione scolastica, consente di aprire ampie finestre sui progetti di trasformazione delle istituzioni educative e sulla valenza degli itinerari formativi attuati nella Sicilia del Sette-Ottocento. Contro la significativa preponderanza della scuola superiore e l’insegnamento gesuitico, portatore di una cultura umanistico - retorica, l’esigenza di razionalizzare l’insegnamento articolandolo in un sistema di ordini e gradi è proprio delle meditazioni della pedagogia illuministica. Il prototipo prussiano e austriaco, che tende alla creazione di un modello educativo organico, centralizzato e laico, determina in Italia la nascita di veri e propri epicentri di trasformazione politica e culturale. La cacciata dei Gesuiti segna il termine a quo del riformismo agrario meridionale nonché la fine del monopolio religioso sull’assistenza e sull’istruzione. In Sicilia De Cosmi si fa interprete di una riforma regalista, giurisdizionalista e popolare, invitando ad operare una riflessione propositiva sulla fine della cultura gesuitica e sui progetti di riutilizzo, in senso lato, del patrimonio dell’ordine. Tra riformismo e rivoluzione il dibattito relativo all’introduzione delle scuole decosmiane e al rapporto tra queste e le secondarie rivela significative consonanze con altri aspetti della politica borbonica nella sua fase tanucciana e caraccioliana. L’introduzione del metodo lancasteriano porrà l’accento sulla “necessità " di un’istruzione aperta ad una utenza più larga. Le istanze giurisdizionalistiche e i revisionismi successi incideranno in maniera trasversale sul sistema educativo e sull’opportunità o meno di affidarne il controllo al clero. I modi e i tempi di applicazione della normativa al caso Catania sottolineano lo stridente contrasto che caratterizzò l’ipotesi di una società, in bilico tra passato e presente, accarezzata da una monarchia borbonica che dopo le istanze riformistiche si scontrava con la realtà della Restaurazione. Se la ricostruzione della normativa può costituire una prima griglia inter-pretativa , l’esame - attraverso l’uso incrociato di fonti bibliografiche e documentazione d’archivio - delle strutture scolastiche diventa indispensabile chiave di lettura per penetrare nel meccanismo della risposta istituzionale alla volontà centrale. A fronte dell’intelaiatura di base relativa all’istruzione primaria e secondaria, pubblica e privata, così come si strutturava a Catania tra Sette e Ottocento, particolare significato riveste la peculiarità di alcune istituzioni finalizzate all’educazione di specifiche categorie sociali: il Collegio Cutelli dedicato all’istruzione dei nobili, e l’Ospizio di beneficenza, destinato ai diseredati, alla “bassa gente”, alla prole dei mendichi, ai “figli di nessuno”. Il duro sistema di vita dell’Ospizio, con il suo progetto pedagogico finalizzato all’istruzione “professionale - militare”, ci dà la misura della abissale distanza dalla raffinata atmosfera, permeata di studi classici e di “arti liberali”, del Collegio Cutelli. La scuola per la formazione dei futuri artigiani e la palestra atta a plasmare il giovane gentiluomo rappresentano le due facce di una medesima medaglia. Il modello proposto dal Collegio a confronto con quello suggerito dall’Ospizio costituiscono in sostanza un emblematico punto d’arrivo di quei mutamenti politico - istituzionali e socio - culturali che contemporaneamente caratterizzavano la formazione dello stato moderno nel Meridione. The analysis of the stages through which, between Revolution and Unity of Italy, the education system takes shape, open ample windows on the transformation plans for educational institutions and on the importance of the formative itineraries effected in eighteenth and nineteenth century Sicily. Against the sígnificant predominance of the high school and the teaching of the Jesuits, holders of a humanistic-rhetoric culture, the need to rationalise teaching, articulating it into a system of orders and degrees is the fruit of the meditatíons of Enlightenment pedagogy. The Prussian and Austrian prototype, that favours the creation of an organic, centralized and secular educational model, determines the birth of authentic centres of political and cultural transformation in Italy. The expulsion of the Jesuits marks the end a quo of agrarian reformism in the south and the end of the religious monopoly on the welfare institutes and education. In Sicily De Cosmi is the interpreter of a regalist, jurisdictional and popular reform, inviting constructive reflection on the end of the Jesuitical culture and on the plans to reutilize, in a broad sense, the patrimony of the Order. Between reformism and revolution the debate on the introduction of Decosmian schools, and the relationship between these and secondary schools reveal meaningful consonances with other aspects of Bourbon policy in its Tanuccian and Caracciolian phases. The introduction of the Lancasterian method will put the accent on the «necessity» of education available to larger numbers. The jurisdíctional demands and the revisionisms of the moment are to have a transversal effect on the educational system and on the opportunity or not of entrusting it to the control to the clergy. The method and the time necessary for the application of the regulations regarding the Catania case underline the sharp contrast that characterízed the hypothesis of a society, in unstable balance between past and present, caressed by a Bourbon monarchy that after the reformistic pressures, encountered the reality of the Restoration. If the reconstruction of the regulations could constitute a first interpretative scheme, the examination (through the cross use of bibliographical sources and filed records) of the scholastic structures becomes the essential reading key in order to penetrate the mechanism of the institutional answer to the central will. With reference to the basic framework regarding primary and secondary, public and private education, as it was structured in Catania between the eightéenth and nineteenth centuries, the distinctive characteristics of certain institutions whose purpose was the education of specific social categories: the Collegio Cutelli, dedicated to the education of the nobles, and the Ospizio di beneficenza, educating the disinherited, ‘low people’, ‘beggars’ children and waifs and strays, took on particular meaning. The hard way of life in the Ospizio, with its pedagogical plan aiming at ‘professionalmilitary’ instruction illustrates the extent of the abysmal distance from the refined atmosphere, impregnated with classica) studies and ‘liberai arts’, of the Collegio Cutelli. The school for the formation of future artisans and the school where young gentleman were shaped represent the two faces of the same medal. The model proposed by the Collegio and the one suggested by the Ospizio constitute, in essence, an emblematical point of arrivai of those political changes, institutional and social-cultural, that together characterized the formation of the modern state in the south
- …
