Interdepartmental research Center for the study of Traditional Techniques in the Mediterranean Area
The CITTAM
Interdepartmental research Center for the study of Traditional Techniques in the Mediterranean Area
has been always engaged in the development of strategies and techniques for land transformation within the Mediterranean basin.
The main objective is gathering, within a unique operative frame, various disciplines and a number of expertise around the ancient but still present values of the cultural and material traditions within the countries that are wet by the Mediterranean sea.
These traditions have been recognized upon time as showing a strong common root, not only in terms of geographical, morphological and climatic items, but also as far as sociality, of literature, of historical, artistic events and material culture are concerned.
The mission of the Cittam thus consists in the investigations and in the actions meant at discovering and diffusing those common roots which can be observed in the existing built heritage and perceived in the local populations’ living behavior.
The care for the technical, historical, configurative and last but not least ecological values of the constructions of so ancient a region as the Mediterranean, still considered as a cradle of one of the biggest civilizations in the world, could in fact be applied only by means of a careful and deep spatial and material analysis of the various Mediterranean phenomena and their comparison.
The centre thus intends to test over studying methodologies, and thus conscious knowledge, and over design procedures aimed on one hand at safeguarding these values and on the other hand at defining sustainable innovative technologies at a number of scales.
Therefore the architecture, the engineering, the geology and the material sciences, jointed with the settlement history, the land management and the planning, examining under a range of points of view (territorial, urban, building, technical…) the Mediterranean realities, are to be considered as the main tools able to interpret and re-qualify this high precious constructed heritage, by always applying, with a common methodology and appropriate strategies, durable and sustainable transformation habits. The latest aim can be better achieved only if the ancient and still strongly represented bioclimatic intents of the whole area would be recognized, and if this wide common know-how would be published and disseminated.
