CIPA 2005 XX International Symposium, 26 September - 01 October, 2005, Torino, Italy 
1116 
CONSTRUCTIVE TECNIQUES OF THE HISTORICAL CENTRE OF ZUNGOLI. FROM 
THE ANALYSIS OF THE ANCIENT PATRIMONY TO THE RECOVERY METHODS 
C. Sansone 
University of Studies of Naples Federico II - Department of Building Engineering. 
Piazzale Tecchio n. 80, 80125 Naples, ITALY - csansone@unina.it 
KEY WORDS: Planning, Development, Recovery, Technology, Tradition 
ABSTRACT 
The preservation of the artistic historical heritage and assets, a topic widely examined by the contemporary cultural debate, has 
greater possibilities of succeeding when the protection strategy ties the cultural qualities to the choices that increase the economic 
value of the good. The smaller city centres, often strongly penalized by the demographic migrations, offer a rich heritage that, with 
appropriately aimed operations, can offer a variety of occasions of use. The paper will analyse the characteristics of the technological 
construction systems of the village of Zungoli, in the province of Avellino, that is any extraordinary built environment, until today 
preserved from ostentatious manumissions. The main appeal of this centre is in the historical continuity transmitted from the warm 
tonality of the stone and from the harmonic disposition of volumes and the site. The result of the analysis has been a manual of 
constructive techniques and typical project approach methods for the site, to create an instrument for the compilation of a recovery 
plan of the built environment in compliance with the nature of the historical buildings and in the respect of the cultural identity of the 
place. The plan, through the implementation of new functions in the buildings, today in great part abandoned and of public property, 
has supplied, moreover, the cue for the technical formation with the institution of schooling building yards in which the theoretical 
culture is translate in practical activity. The paper is part of a greater research program. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
This paper presents a part of the results of an ample research on 
the technological and functional recovery of rural villages, 
elaborated by the research group coordinated by prof. Ing. 
Agostino Catalano, of the university of Naples Federico II. The 
recovery of the historical centres is not only an important 
cultural factor, but is as well an occasion of economic 
development that can propose new models of local growth. 
New legal institutions, and new initiatives to sustain them have 
been created, conceiving the confluence of public and private 
funds for the completion of projects of great public interest, that 
can generate and stimulate recovery processes. In the urban 
planning field new tools are experimented that conceive re-use 
proposals that, conscious of the historical, cultural and social 
values of the historic centres, propose articulated strategic 
Urban Riqualification Programs and fiscaleconomic incentives. 
The Functional Riqualification Project of the historical centre of 
Zungoli is configured as an occasion to recover the traditional 
constructive techniques, through the use of local materials, 
rediscovering past crafts of the local building. The project is an 
occasion to induce the typological recovery of the buildings. 
That would favour the regeneration of some professions that are 
disappearing for the introduction of the modem building 
methods. This project allows us to initiate a strategy for the 
ancient centre that, assigned a strong role, is a propulsion 
element of development, based on the acquisition of the 
abandoned buildings by the town council, on the cooperation of 
public and private funds. Through aimed projects it will be 
possible to integrate and obtain the betterment of the services of 
the historical centre, recreate the roads system, and repopulate 
the residential and commercial units. The final aim is the 
achievement of the enhancement of the environmental and 
urban quality of the village, offering services outside and 
maintain local autonomy. 
2. THE RECOVERY PLAN OF ZUNGOLI. THE RULES 
In the territory of the village of Zungoli we can identify three 
areas. The ancient centre, with a triangular plan metric 
distribution on the hill, that has preserved the original character 
with low houses built one against the other in stone, connected 
by walking paths (Image 1). 
Image 1: The urban structure of the village of Zungoli 
The perimeter zone of new urbanization, that was bom at the 
feet of the hill along the provincial road, and the third zone with 
its farming aggregates far from the town. The necessity to wed 
conservation and development, trough the recovery and 
riqualification of the historical village and it’s territory needs to 
be based on an extensive knowledge of the context. The 
research is organized in sequential steps. The first phase 
includes an analysis of the existing context highlighting the 
problems and potentialities of the historical centre. In this phase 
we analyse architecture and materials, with surveys and data 
analysis and organization. In a second phase the objectives of 
the riqualification project are refined, based on the 
technological characters, the intervention typologies for the 
primary recovery of the buildings; design graphs are prepared 
for the recovery project and the intervention typology applicable 
to each building. The achievement of the objectives of the 
requalification project is a fundamental for the institution of