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The magnificent blooms of cornflowers, lentils and daisies that color the fields at its feet in the heart of summer contrast with the abandoned houses and the still rough roads. But Castelluccio di Norcia, the village in the heart of the Sibillini Mountains Park and in the province of Terni devastated by the 2016 earthquake, will soon be able to come back to life. This is the intention of Brunello Cucinelli, who presented the project for the recovery and revitalization of Castelluccio at the Milan Triennale.
Curated by the Brunello and Federica Cucinelli Foundation, the project will give an idea for the reconstruction and the village along the lines of what has already been done for Solomeo (the town where the company is based, also restored with its suburbs) and Norcia, the municipality to which the he entire Cucinelli family is strongly linked by virtue of the Benedictine spirit which has always inspired the entrepreneur.
«The idea was born after the earthquake that in 2016, in addition to Castelluccio, devastated so many beloved places in our Italy – explained Cucinelli -, took away from the women and men who lived there the good of their tradition, of their history , of their beauty, in a word of their life. These sites, not far from the city of Norcia, are pervaded by a spirituality that the Umbrian and European saint, Benedict, bequeathed them. It is as a sign of brotherhood and testimony of a special love, which binds me not only to Solomeo, but to all the cities, villages, suburbs, countryside and mountains of our mother land of Umbria, that I kindly offer my idea for Castelluccio as a gift”.
Started in 2017 and interrupted for two years by the pandemic – explain the Foundation – the study was resumed and completed last year. The main objective of the project is to give shape to the village and the landscape, studying the construction techniques and the decorative elements and considering the geological and botanical environment, as contemplated in the Environmentalism criteria formulated by the architect Gustavo Giovannoni in the years Thirty.
«The ideas, the project that we intend to donate to the village of Castelluccio in the hope that it can be rebuilt, have a lot in common with the way we live and work in Solomeo – added Cucinelli -. We conceived the project in harmony with Creation and with the priority of full respect for the dignity of the place that is constantly present in our minds. My dream is for Castelluccio to be reborn as it was before the earthquake, and this idea that we are committed to realizing is a tribute to its extraordinary beauty, its long history and its peaceful, hardworking and dignified inhabitants. At the same time, the project wants to be a donation towards a future inspired by Human Sustainability, an attempt to make a significant contribution of beauty to humanity that will animate the centuries to come».