Recomposition of Architecture in the Historical City. Case Study of Battaglia Terme, Italy

The work we propose concerns the theme of the recomposition of public spaces in the ancient town. The working method is based on the belief that, in the study of urban morphology, is basic to analyse the history of the city. The history becomes an indispensable tool to know the deep reasons of the urban structure which is the memory and the image of the community. The methodology contemplates the urban form as a result of its spatial structure. The life of the urban form is investigated in its physical specificity, the only one able of giving reason of its special nature over every social, economic and political aspect, certainly important but not sufficient. Our teaching at the University of Padua is based on fundamental 1960s studies about typological analysis. The spatial aspects and formal image of the transformations in the city are studied as a premise for the design of the new architecture. The old town centre of Battaglia Terme, not far from Padua (Italy), is one of the subjects investigated by our students, thought as an opportunity to reconfigure the lost unity of a very symbolic and representative place.