MULTISCALAR APPROACHES TO RE-APPROPRIATING THE VISCONTI-SFORZA CASTLE IN NOVARA BETWEEN CONSERVATION AND RE-USE

At the beginning of this century, after more than a hundred years of controversy, the Novara city ad- ministration finally recognized the great potential of the Visconti-Sforza castle to increase the quality and prestige of the city and ruled that it should be renovated for use as a museum. This long-term pro- ject, delineated over the years from 2005 to 2016, was supported by an interdisciplinary process of in- formation-gathering involving a wide range of professionals (archaeologists, architects, historians, engineers, chemists and petrographers) with a multiscalar approach to the city and the details. The project required a multiscalar approach because of the ‘urban’ dimension of the intervention. Indeed, the castle, which coincides with the ancient layout of the south-west corner of the city, plays a crucial role in the new urban dynamic that can evolve thanks to its connection with Piazza Martiri and, in general, with the entire historic city of Novara, as well as for the many ‘stories’ that the walls can tell.