Il restauro della torre Faraglione di Aci Castello: utilizzo combinato di un approccio conservativo e della metodologia BIM

The towers located along the Sicilian coasts attest a past in which they constituted a defence point for thepopulation and a characterizing sign of the surrounding landscape, which often grew around them. These towersrepresented, and still represent, an historical and environmental element of value.Today, most of the fortifications built in Sicily for defensive purposes are in a bad state of conservation, generallydue to the presence of biological degradations – among which the outside infesting vegetation appears to be thepreponderant – and following dangerous instability. These forms of degradation are often accompanied by a poorstate of preservation of the interior spaces.In order to preserve the historical and cultural identity of these historical buildings, and consequently of thesurrounding landscape, it is necessary to reach, although in part, the ancient magnificence obtained during theKingdom of Sicily of Frederick II, when the most important noble houses of the time began a vast building work.Despite the difficulties of intervention deriving from the historical and architectural instance, the fortifications canbe recovered through two combined actions, i.e. the use of a conservative approach based on punctual andminimal interventions and the adoption of a BIM approach for the management restoration activities andoptimization of the subsequent maintenance and management of the building.The present research, focusing on the case study of the Faraglione Tower of Aci Castello di Catania locally called"Bastioncello", illustrates an example of conservative restoration supported by the use of a BIM methodology toobtain an optimal recovery intervention.