Later
it was closed with the laws enacted in 1866, transformed into a hospital and
later in the Fascio and the elementary schools.
It was completely demolished in the first half of the last century (1935) to
build that little aesthetic but essential building that still hosts the
elementary schools (the project bears the signature of the architect Anfuso).
Many have been the transformations that the square has undergone and that
have completely distorted the harmony and lightness with which it presented
itself at the origins.
Among the main benefits to remember that of 2006 when the then mayor
Firrarello decided to restructure radically bringing, among other things,
the surface on one floor.
After some years of work, in 2009, the square was given back to the Bronte
area redesigned and rebuilt - it was said - "to be the beautiful living room
of an ever more lively, beautiful and hospitable town".
Not everyone agreed to the radical transformation and, as always, there was
no shortage of criticism and controversy for a remake that, according to
many Bronte, shocked even more the beauty and harmony of the ancient "chianu
'a Batia", become according to many "place without a soul".
Compared to the past, the surface of the new square was placed on a single
floor (only the sidewalks on the sides remained), with a disappearing
fountain with six distinct jets of water that started directly from the
ground (it was deactivated after a few months) and of the seats in front of
the elementary schools placed on a strange structure corrugated in cement.
In
addition, bringing the surface on one floor, eliminating the sidewalk and
two entrance steps, has also led to the elevation of the area at the foot of
the church of San Silvestro (see the three photos on the right).
This ended up by making the portal and also the whole prospect of the church
less slender and more stocky, almost sunk into the ground.
A new architectural element (a lava stone portal that once characterized the
entrance to the nearby municipal theater), reconstructed adjacent to the war
memorial, contributed, in our view, even more, to change the original view
of the square for the worse.
Under the portal was also discovered a plaque in memory of the inauguration
(«1 August 2009 - Firrarello Mayor») subject to repeated acts of vandalism.
The transit of the cars in front of the church of San Silvestro has been
eliminated and the whole square made (but only for a limited period of time) a pedestrian area. |