According to local myth, Naples was built atop the body of the Greek siren Parthenope, which merged with the ground to shape the landscape. Parthenope gave her name to the Greek settlement which pre-dated the Roman Neapolis and is still remembered in the Fontana della Sirena in Piazza Sannazaro, the statue Partenope fra I Geni della Commedia e della Tragedia atop the San Carlo Theatre, and in the nickname of SSC Napoli. The city still has a profound relationship with this myth, and consequently with the ground, the body, and gender. Tales of a Reclaimed Body-Landscape explores this intricate relationship, focusing on a transformative journey along the Aragonese city walls. Parthenope is still seen as a protective figure in Naples. A series of projects aim to transform the remaining fragments of the city walls from fortifications into sacred spaces, reshaping what were the edges of the city to redefine the line that divided a sacred interior from a profane exterior. These projects develop a new space in murum, within the walls, an-in between space in which the body-landscape relationship is sacred again, and in which bodies and landscape are protected.
A series of new wall pieces dress the remains of the old city walls, infusing adjacent sites with a renewed sense of sacredness. Piazza del Carmine acts as a focal point, where a women’s shelter for refugees bridges the gap between tradition and new beginnings. It creates a new gatehouse between Piazza Mercato and the sea, addressing the pressing social and civic challenges posed by the refugee crisis in Naples. The shelter stands on the ground of Torre la Marinella, a tower built into the city wall at the coast now isolated in a strip of ‘park’ between the major highways severing the city from an expanded industrial harbour. A site for the integration of vulnerable women into Neapolitan society, the shelter also reintegrates the former moat into the sacred ground of the city. Expanding urban ‘carpets’ resurface the streets to create softer, cooler microclimates. Unfolding vertical skins, combining woven gardens and perforated veils, establish an architectural language which creates moments of liveliness in a site that is historically charged, but presently abandoned. Through a synthesis of architectural interventions designed to engender cultural sensitivity, and a combination of solidity and fragility, Tales of a Reclaimed Body-Landscape seeks to create spaces which contribute to the renewal of a project of collective care, care for the city, its ground, and those who reside there.
