The works that will allow the reopening of the Catanzaro Cathedral are continuing very quickly and, at present, the demolition phase of all the seriously damaged reinforced concrete parts is about to be completed through the use of a large crane specially designed and tailor-made to be able to be transported within the historic center. This important facility will facilitate both the demolition of large reinforced concrete beams and the dismantling and reassembly of unsafe parts of the building. These ongoing activities have highlighted the structural precariousness of the building, rebuilt after 1943, proving the precautionary interdiction that was necessary due to the sudden collapse of some ceilings. The false ceiling of the central nave and some of the concrete beams, now removed, were in very poor conservative conditions and seriously compromised, therefore the design forecasts were largely confirmed.
As everyone knows, the Cathedral project was disclosed through the press conference last February 10th organized by the Superintendent arch. Stefania Argenti, from the Superintendent of Public Works for Calabria and Sicily ing. Floriano Siniscalco and his Excellency Mons. Claudio Maniago, with the participation of the designers in charge and in the presence of the Hon. Wanda Ferro, His Excellency the Prefect Castrese De Rosa, the Mayor Prof. Nicola Fiorita, open to all citizens and the press. The presence of the Undersecretary Hon. Wanda Ferro and of the major institutional officials of the city highlighted the attention and importance of the construction site, strongly desired by all, for which a great effort was made to obtain the necessary financing and to develop a very complex project shared with the subjects directly involved and entitled to make choices: the Archdiocese as the owner, the Superintendence for the protection aspects and the Superintendency as the contracting authority. During the conference, the Superintendent and the designers presented the complex restoration project of the Cathedral, examining its contents and explaining the design choices. An important moment of dissemination wanted by SABAP, by the Interregional Superintendency OO.PP. and by the Archdiocese of Catanzaro which saw the involvement of the city authorities and the media to give everyone the opportunity to ask questions and receive news and clarifications.
The start of the construction site is the result of a synergistic public commitment which saw the convergence of three different funds: those of the MiC, the Calabria Region and the Board of Public Works to start a decisive restoration intervention of the iconic Sacred Building of Catanzaro, unusable for a long time and closed to worship.
The importance of these works is therefore denoted by the huge economic commitment which currently sees 9,100,000.00 euros of public funds invested and for this reason it represents one of the most important restoration sites in southern Italy, among those involving religious buildings.
The design was entrusted through an open tender to Studio Battista of Naples with great experience in the field of architectural restoration which made use of the Studio’s specialist consultancy Giannantoni Engineering for the structural aspects. The project illustrated during the aforementioned press conference dissected the reasons that led to the design choices, highlighting the desire to keep the building unchanged externally, as an iconic and historicized image of the city of Catanzaro, with the exception of a slight lowering of the dome alone (which will not be perceived from afar) made necessary due to structural problems that could not otherwise be overcome and resulting from in-depth investigations conducted. This solution will not affect the city skyline which sees the Cathedral as the absolute protagonist and emblem of Catanzaro. The project was initially fully shared by HE the Metropolitan Bishop of Catanzaro-Squillace and was then welcomed favorably by all the Administrations involved who fully understood the high project value and the quality expressed from a formal point of view despite the critical issues that emerged during the in-depth studies conducted on the state of conservation of the property. The choice to internally propose a spatiality close to the last pre-bombing facies was espoused by SE Maniago and the members of the presbytery college of the Catanzaro Curia among the valid design alternatives as it is more in line with the liturgical and spiritual needs that will have to be satisfied at the end of the restorations.
The memorandum of understanding, strongly desired by the Superintendent Argenti, between SABAP and the Province of Catanzaro, will soon be illustrated to all citizens, to allow the start of an open construction site at the Museum of Arts of Catanzaro which will see as its protagonists the canvas of the Assumption, formerly an altarpiece of the eighteenth-century Cathedral (located in a side altar of the cathedral and hospitalized at the MARCA during the construction site) and the bronze statue of the Madonnina by the artist Giuseppe Rito, placed on the top of the bell tower. The canvas and the statue so dear to the people of Catanzaro can be admired in all their artistic beauty during the open restoration site that the Superintendency will launch with its own funds, granting the unprecedented possibility of being able to see the aforementioned works up close, making everyone participate in the recovery and restoration interventions to which they will be subjected. The Statue of the Madonna, after being removed and restored, will be relocated where it has always been, as soon as the dismantling and reassembly work on the seriously compromised bell tower is completed. At the end of the works the facade will return to have exactly the same appearance as before and the Statue of the Madonna will continue to be a lighthouse that everyone can continue to look at, as will the bells, already removed for safety reasons, which will be put back in their place.
Like any restoration intervention that aims to maintain the monument with the objective of transmitting its cultural and artistic values to future generations, even in the case of the Catanzaro Cathedral all the planned interventions aim at the conservation of the property and its transmission to the future including the iconic skyline that dominates the Catanzaro landscape which can continue to be appreciated from any distance.
The importance of such a complex project of undoubted design quality and the complexity of the solutions implemented from a structural point of view make the project of the Catanzaro Cathedral a topic of great importance and absolute relevance, which is why we are working on a publication of this absolutely innovative experience in the field of the restoration of sacred buildings rebuilt after the Second World War. It will therefore be the subject of conferences intended for specialists in the sector, precisely in order to be able to disseminate the choices and operational strategies conducted and share with sector experts the virtuous methodological process adopted based on an extremely accurate historical analysis which has led and justified the shared choices of re-proposing sacred spaces which will also lead, as hoped, to finding new historiographical elements hidden in the original masonry once the part has been removed of reinforced concrete built after 1943.
Once the demolition part, which is particularly complex, has been completed, the Cathedral construction site will be able to be visited through dedicated days, repeating what was exposed during the visit last July 31st of Minister Giuli who appreciated and fully shared the operations that are being carried out aimed at returning to the community a building of worship which represents a point of reference for the historic center of Catanzaro. The open restoration site will in fact be an exceptional opportunity to share with all citizens, and with those who want to have technical insights, the virtuous path that is being taken to recover the property and everything contained in it.