La sentinella. Prospettive per il riuso dei beni militari dismessi a La Maddalena

Each passage of history through La Maddalena would seem to have left only light traces behind. But these traces, these now useless constructions, are the mirror of a world much larger than the archipelago, and much more complex and dangerous, which visitors to that paradise hope to forget about for one or two weeks. A forgetfulness within easy reach: even the local community which developed back a military “front line” and has always lived under the threat of impending war, which the military installations provided a constant reminder of has gradually become accustomed to being a "rear line", reassured by the fact that the geopolitical events that have touched upon it have always played out their dramatic force elsewhere. Thus has a community created to fight wars it never fought exorcised the ghosts of conflict, turning them into economic and urban development, establishing with these ghosts a symbiotic dependency that has carried it forward to its sleepy present. Now that global balances have once again changed, now that it seems possible to finally sever the umbilical cord, the mirage of a sustainable future not resting neither on collective fears nor sporadic glamour events seems to be within its grasp. The reclamation of Saint Nazaire U-Boot bunkers in Normandy offers both architects and politicians a direct reference for future intervention in a similar context.