Favignana bio-calcarenite: technological culture, knowledge and recovery

Abstract

Favignana Island, the biggest one among Egadi islands, is well known for its deposits of calcarenite, which has been extracted and used since ancient times. The landscape of the Island is shaped by the widespread presence of quarries that mark the seaside as well. Furthermore, the constant presence of dry-stone walls, made of calcarenite, and of the characteristic architecture of buildings, represents a hallmark for the rest of Egadi islands as well, making it clear how important the presence of this material has been for the architectural and technological culture of these places. Calcarenite itself, exported by this island, is still a constituent material of many buildings in the western part of Sicily, in particular the prestigious buildings of the Baroque period. The presence of calcarenite, while notably all other construction materials, including timber, are absent, has meant that all the construction elements, indoor and outdoor, as well as all settlement types, have been affected by the almost exclusive use of calcarenite, the quarrying methods and the craftsmen’s skills that inevitably derived from this context. Today, masonries, vaults, floors, roofs and all other elements show specific solutions that strongly characterize the buildings and the urban and rural landscape of the island. However, despite the constructive relevance of any elements or entire buildings, the touristic exploitation of the Egadi archipelago has brought to the replacement of buildings, or elements, as well as to a wrong and weak activity of building recovery. The reinterpretation of claddings and exposed masonry, and the replacement of original floors with concrete floors are just some of the many inappropriate interventions. In terms of typologies and morphological models, the study that we present has also dealt with the development of more adequate and relevant intervention techniques and repairs.