The Fiera del Mediterraneo: a (Post)Pandemic Landscape as Difficult Heritage

Abstract

This article aims to analyse the geographical perceptions of an urban landscape through the lens of difficult heritage. The choice to speak of a difficult heritage seems to us better suited for dealing with the traces of the past that are complex, painful, and controversial, given their association with tragic events. In order to analyse this particular form of heritage, we will use the methodology of the survey, which involves both an exploratory and a dialogic phase. We intend to consider the Fiera del Mediterraneo in Palermo through three keywords: development, transformation, and sustainability. Firstly, the Fiera was founded as an exhibition space in 1946 in an expanding area of the city. The Universal Exhibitions were its archetype, the aim was to be the bridge of the Mediterranean economic area. The transformations of the 1970s interrupted the initial idea of landscape unity by fragmenting and transforming the outdoor space and pavilions into empty spaces, to be filled with industrial products of everyday life. In the third phase, the Fiera changes its use value once again by becoming the pandemic space for the Covid-19 tests and vaccinations. Although only three pavilions were used, the Covid-19 changed the image of this area: it was the Covid-19 landscape. Thus, the question is how to deal with this difficult heritage? How to live-with and resignify this difficult heritage?