Gli ex sanatori antitubercolari tra valori da conservare e prospettive. Il caso dell’Ospedale Cervello a Palermo / Historic tuberculosis sanatoriums: values to preserve and prospects for the future. The case of the Cervello Hospital in Palermo

Abstract

In the twentieth century, tuberculosis sanatorium architecture was the subject of design experimentation by leading architects, as well as a place for experimenting with modern therapeutic approaches and scientific growth. After the ‘defeat’ of the disease, the former sanatorium buildings were in many cases decommissioned but often retained their hospital function, undergoing numerous incongruous transformations and extensions that made these com-plexes difficult to recognise for their historical and architectural value and landscape significance.
Starting with the case of Palermo, with a focus on the first Sicilian public sanatorium built by the physician Vincen-zo Cervello (1905-1909), the paper aims to evaluate the value of these buildings, with a series of proposals for possi-ble repurposing that, between conservation and new additions, reflect the history of the places, between past disso-nances and prospects.