Can a 13th Century urban plan be considered a work of art, to be restored and protected?
At a time when the longed-for reconstruction of Amatrice seems to be looming, it is even more
surprising the total annihilation of the historic town, put in place without any significant scientific
operation or documentation. Thus the problem of the value to be attributed to a good that may
be immaterial, but that a material form had had for centuries, such as the planned plant of a city,
returns to the fore.
Amatrice was precisely a city designed in the second half of the thirteenth century,
according to methods and ideas better known today than in the past. Despite some earthquakes
comparable to the last for catastrophic effects, the urban system had always remained unchanged.
Its current zeroing obliges us to acknowledge that the current instruments of protection for historic
centres still have too many gaps.
