Il risanamento del quartiere di San Romano: genesi e risoluzione di una lacuna ferrarese di lungo periodo

Densely built in the oldest part of Ferrara, near to the Cathedral, the San Romano neighborhood was the path of a “gutting” plan promoted since the nineteenth century, but started only a few years before the Second World War. The reasons that guided to this choice, and devised the so many plans, changed over time moving from demands of embellishment, decorum and traffic, and progressing along healthiness, supported by the real estate investment, at last. The gradual demolition of entire blocks produced an intense debate, especially concerning the protection of monuments in the area (the Palazzo della Ragione, churches, arcades and some old buildings decorated with terracotta), and large gaps, only partially rebuilt in a short time. The plan was interrupted in the early Seventies, when the intervention criteria in the historic centers began to be understood in an entirely different way: the urban lacuna was greatly relied upon, thus carried out in parts; finally, the fulfilment of the plan was interrupted and, before the construction of the latest demolished parts, a lot of time has passed by