Dry-stone architectures in the Hyblaean rural landscape

Abstract

The European Landscape Convention defines the landscape «as an essential component of people’s surroundings, an expression of the identity of their shared cultural and natural heritage, and a foundation of their identity». Over the centuries, the thick network of dry-stone enclosures has become the image of the Hyblaean territory, indissolubly linked with the morphology of the landscape, the building tradition, the heritage of know-how and skills passed on from generation to generation. That same technique has often been employed in small buildings used for rural activities or as shelters. The present study aims at weighing the state of these architectures and their major problems of decay through graphic and iconographic media, with the intent to put forward a consistent proposal for their safeguard and a sustainable intervention in the direction of the recovery of the values of the artisan tradition and the preservation of the rural Hyblaean landscape.