*3.1. The Ancient Market*

The Ancient Market of Siracusa is a building dating back to 1900, built on the remains of the Spanish city walls, next to the Temple of Apollo. Designed by Edoardo Troja, an engineer of the Municipal Technical Office, it follows the design of the Livorno Market, with large arches and windows with shutters. The internal rectangular courtyard has an ornamental fountain in the middle and a portico with 24 arches surrounded by shops. From the early 1950s to 1985 the building has been transformed in order to adapt the retail spaces. The building was used as a city market until the end of the 1980s, when the sale of food products and local handicrafts moved outdoors, in the nearby streets. The Ancient Market was restored in 2000 and reused for cultural and commercial events and trade fairs (e.g., farmers' market, display and sale of typical products, exhibitions, music and cultural events).

The reuse project included the repair of windows and walls, the restoration of stone surfaces by keeping the erosion of materials visible and replacing only unstable stones (Figures 3a and 4). The structural improvement works and the partial reconstruction of the roofs were carried out using

traditional techniques. A large polyfunctional hall (Figure 3b) on the east side was created closing the portico with self-supporting panels, which frame the columns from the inside with high vertical cuts.

(**a**) Western façade (**b**) The polyfunctional hall

**Figure 3.** The Ancient Market. Sources: Figure 3a, www.commons.wikimedia.org, author Davide Mauro, 2017, no changes were made [Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license]; Figure 3b, photo kindly provided by Professor Emanuele Fidone, the designer of the reuse projects of the two case studies.

**Figure 4.** The Ancient Market, project drawings by Emanuele Fidone.

The roof of the new hall is divided into three sections, designed as fragments of large barrel vaults shaped like a telescope, and lead the eye towards the Temple of Apollo, which can be seen from the two large windows at the end of the hall. The western rooms have been redesigned with a structure in oxidized steel and glass which separates functions without altering the overall view. The building now houses a service centre for tourists.

## *3.2. The Basilica of St. Peter the Apostle in Ortigia*

The early Christian Basilica of St. Peter the Apostle is one of the oldest churches in Ortigia, dating back to the end of the fourth century, and has been repeatedly transformed. The first adaptation, occurred in the seventh century, inverted the position of apse and facade, and added a tripartite transept. In the early 1400s the Gothic portal was built, and the previous entries were closed. Many decorations were added in the Baroque period. The restoration of the 1950s has altered the interior spaces in an irreversible way, with the goal to restore the original appearance of the church.

The project of the architect Emanuele Fidone, awarded with the Italian Heritage Award in 2013, has reused the church as music hall (Figures 5 and 6). The project highlights the stratigraphy of the surfaces, showing traces of the Byzantine frescoes. The architect has built two new structures, the false ceiling and the large portal, clearly identifiable as a contemporary addition. The false ceiling restores the original dimension of the interior space: it is made of wooden lamellae and is at the height of the supports of the barrel vault of the early Christian age, apparently detached by the building's bearing structure. This lightweight wooden element filters the view of the roof trusses, modulates the daylight entering from the upper windows made in the 1950s and improves the acoustics of the church.

(**a**) Northern façade (**b**) The central nave

**Figure 5.** The Basilica of St. Peter the Apostle. Sources: Figure 5a, www.commons.wikimedia.org, author: Sailko, 2009, the picture has been cutted [GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license]; Figure 5b: photo by Emanuele Fidone.

The new portal consists of a thick corten steel panel, slightly spaced from the sides and the lower surface of the arch. The opening requires a frontal push of the lower part of the panel, which looks like a screen, a filter towards the internal space. The floor made in "cocciopesto", a flooring material made of a compound based on hydraulic lime and crushed bricks, with natural wax finishing, is a continuous surface, which highlights the preserved part of the Byzantine flooring.

In such building conservation goals are not restricted to safeguarding the building's exterior appearance, but are also taken on to spaces and interior elements. Moreover, we can clearly distinguish the new parts by the ancient ones. It demonstrates that good contemporary architecture is not incompatible with the needs of restoration and can improve building performance. Today the building can be visited daily, paying an entrance fee.

Both of the case studies are in marginal areas as compared to the exceptional tourist development of Ortigia. Nevertheless, while the area of the Ancient Market seems to benefit from the users' flows attracted by the activities held in the building, the Basilica of St. Peter the Apostle is still visited only by a few people, moving away from the traditional tour of the island or involved in the seldom cultural events which take place in the building.

**Figure 6.** The Basilica of St. Peter the Apostle, project drawings by Emanuele Fidone.
