Raffigurazione del danno e ricostruzione urbana a Messina dal sisma del 1908 al secondo conflitto bellico

Among cities which have been affected by catastrophes, Messina represents a singular case. Destroyed by the earthquake of 1908, the city on the Straits of Messina was again seriously dam- aged during the Second World War, when the complex post-seismic reconstruction had not yet been completed. In the public imagination, the two catastrophes were commonly identified as a sort of continued lesion, with no distinction between the two events and the consequent dra- matic effects. In both cases, descriptions of damage which emerged from a very rich photo- graphic documentation were used, over time, to justify policies of reconstruction, which paid very little attention to the relationship between conservation of memories and transformation of urban fabric. By analyzing the photographic reports which have described the two disasters, this essay underlines to what extent urban fabric and historic buildings were sacrificed for the needs of a decisive reconstruction.