Intervention at the Castello of Ischia
Napoles, Italia
Architects
Sol89. María González & Juanjo López de la Cruz
Collaborators
Victor Moita & Andrés Pino
Client
Propietarios del Castello Aragonese. Antonello Monaco
The scars left by history enrich and imbue things with a unique density, revealing only what is essential. This is where the beauty of the ruin lies: it speaks of what no longer exists yet is felt through its absence. Our intention is to attend to these absences with the same intensity as we do to what remains—to give equal importance to the present and to the relationships forged over time between the landscape and the ruin, as well as to what has faded into memory. We trace the clues that evoke what once was, and from these absences, we reconstruct visions and relationships. Recovering the white nave, the axial view through the large opening to the sea, and the lost elevation of the bell tower are interventions that respond to what has vanished—elements that time has taken, yet which can now be reclaimed as the true essence of the Cathedral. We propose to weave a garment that dresses the ruin, offering it shelter and framing, through layered cutouts, the essential elements of the Cathedral: the architectural components (arch and wall), the settecento stuccoes, the framed views of the landscape, and the enduring dialogue with the Castello Aragonese. An enveloping mask that evokes the Mediterranean spirit of the Cathedral—a vast white void open to the sea—offering protection to its most fragile elements while allowing the technical systems to move quietly within its folds. This surface will unfold across walls, floors, and roofs, carved where we wish to direct the gaze and suggest movement, and it will climb the tower to restore the view lost to time. It will act as a delicate, temporary shelter, preserving the unfinished presence of the Cathedral as a reality forever linked to the landscape and topography of the Castello Aragonese.
