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Piazza Nicola Spedalieri

The place of parties and all the public demonstrations

Some images (old and new) of the appearance and transformations undergone by the square dedicated to philosopher Nicola Spedalieri (formerly called Largo del Monastero di Santa Scolastica), the symbolic place of Bronte's social life, of celebrations and of all public events.

The oldest image is shown on the right: presumably it is from the first half of the 19th century; in fact, on the left you cannot still see the municipal theater completed under the supervision of Antonino Cimbali in the second half of the same century (click on the image to see it in good resolution and colour).

The other photos, from the early 1900s (some taken between 1920 and 1930), show clear signs of various renovations of the square, of the church of San Sil­vestro that dominates it (from 1500) and of the adjacent Monastery of Santa Scolastica (1616) with the erection of a monument to the fallen of 15-18 inaugurated in 1922.

The monument was placed in the center of the square but, 20 years after the inauguration, it was completely dismantled to donate to the country the iron of the railings and the bronze of the statue, useful materials for obtaining weapons of war.

The marble pedestal and the headstone that supported the statue of Victory are what remains of the monument and are still visible inside the Memo­rial of the Fallen.

The Monastery of Santa Scolastica, built near the church, began to be built in 1608 and inau­gurated in 1616. It also incor­po­rated the preexi­sting church.

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.