Reconstruction after a programmed disaster. The construction of a dam: Zuri and Cantalupo Ligure, Italy

In this essay we present two case studies of the research “The ‘Osso’ of Italy” of submerged settlements: restoration, reconstruction and translation of memories. The main objective is an in-depth and comprehensive study of submerged settlements as consequence of the construction of water reservoirs. These operations which took place mostly between the 1930s and the 1950s, common in Italy and Spain, triggered three phenomena: the disappearance of villages and their rediscovery for tourism purposes; the construction of new population centres with the related problem of the production of memories; and the translation of memories of buildings dismounted before their submersion into new buildings, or parts of them. These two cases are related because the first one, the submersion of the village of Zuri in Sardinia in the early 1920s seems to have become a model of reconstruction for other cases in Italy, while the second one, the Cantalupo Ligure (Alessandria) case, was finally not carried out. The “planned” disaster which represents the construction of a dam is a good opportunity to analyse the reconstruction plans which involved the population historically and which at present constitutes an opportunity to reflect on the needs of the population when their homes are about to disappear. It enables us also to reflect on the topic of “collective memory” in order to build new concepts through which to analyse and design very contemporary fields of study, themes and topics, such as those related to villages in areas with high seismic risk or hydro-geological instability.