Le frazioni della valle di Levanto (SP). Trasformazioni dell’architettura rurale negli ultimi trent’anni

Levanto is a coastal village in eastern Liguria, whose origins date back to the Middle Ages; today it is characterised by a certain tourist pressure. Behind it a wide valley lies where several small settlements of a mainly rural character have sprung up over the centuries. In the 1990s, the Municipality of Levanto commissioned the ISCUM (Istituto di Storia della Cultura Materiale) to carry out a historical-archaeological research on its territory, aimed at a better understanding of this interesting node in the medieval merchant traffic system of Liguria. As part of this research, the hillside hamlets were catalogued. Significant building units were identified: they presented characteristic elements of the local building tradition, relevant historical stratifications or a recognisable constructive and typological homogeneity. If possible, ISCUM researchers proposed a dating of these buildings or elements according to their own distinctive chronological-typological methods. This work was used to make suggestions in the planning field; almost thirty years later, it was taken up again in view of a revision of the Municipal Urban Plan. The activity of the ISCUM in 2020-2021 had a different approach compared to the previous research: on the one hand, the survival of the characterising elements reported previously was verified; on the other hand, the number of buildings registered was increased, including cases of lesser singularity, of a more humble character, sometimes abandoned, but still witnesses of the building tradition and local culture. Numerous tamperings were noted during the inspections: these highlighted how the rural built heritage is endangered at a time when places are being re-appropriated by a population with a different lifestyle from the community that shaped them. The characterising elements themselves, such as portals and masonry layers, have often been misunderstood or misinterpreted: sometimes they have been completely hidden by layers of plaster and covering paint, at other times - recognising their value - they have been isolated and decontextualised from the building as a whole. It thus emerged how much, with the alteration of rural architecture and the banalisation of the language of construction, the identity of places and the memory of the communities that inhabited them are at risk. As part of the research, an abacus of the elements that characterise the rural architecture of the Levanto valley and that are therefore to be protected was drawn up; furthermore, indications were given as to which interventions should be avoided because they are extraneous to the context. By illustrating the results of the research, this paper intends to offer a testimony of the vulnerability of rural settlements, also in relation to town planning instruments, which - for example, in the case of Levanto, but not only - could provide a protocol for intervention on the historical building, respectful of its great social and identity value.