Digital Transition and Green Sustainable Economy, Proceedings Book

In some villages of the Calabrian hinterland there are still some city gates of singular workmanship. Often the towns were protected by walls and the entrance doors were limited in number. Portals were configured, often arched, structured in such a way as to make the strength of the fortress emerge in the eyes of visitors, but also signs of identity and prestige of the local dominant family. In the paper, the attention is focussed to some emblematic cases of city gates located in some villages of Locride, highlighting their common and other distinctive characteristics. They are present in the ancient villages of the municipalities of Bruzzano Zeffirio, Gerace, Caulonia and Stilo. They date back to medieval times, but in some cases they have been rebuilt or renovated. After a territorial classification, some historical and general descriptive references are proposed; then some comparative analyses based on acquired architectural and artistic parameters, as well as on the type of construction materials. Specific attention is paid to reading accessibility attributes (position and size of access, ease of transit, relationship with the external access roads and the internal service streets of the village), also in relation to today's tourist enjoyment. The ancient villages have singular urban connotations and are often little known tourist destinations; their city gates represent emerging elements that stand today as opening and welcoming sites, as to invite visitors to cross them and to discover the secrets of a hidden historical heritage. In this article, a specific part is dedicated to a portal of great historical and monumental value located in the territory of Bruzzano Zeffirio, "the triumphal arch" of the Carafa Family. It is proposed as a case study. Constructive and architectural aspects are recalled, artisan and aesthetic characters, painted decorations of great charm, all aspects that can contribute to enhancing, in a tourist key, an extraordinary element of the vast historical-monumental heritage consisting of the city gates of Calabrian ancient villages.