INTRODUCTION The DIONYSIAN WALL was built by the tyrant Dionysius I of Syracuse between 402 BC and 397 BC to fortify the plateau of Epipolis, in order to maintain the widest control of the city allowing the sighting of any enemy threat. The Wall completely encircled the ancient city of Syracuse (founded in 734 BC) for a perimeter of 27 km and gathered at the highest point at the Eurialo Fortress. It is considered the largest in the Classical World, even surpassing the Aurelian Walls of Rome. Built with limestone, extracted from the nearby stone quarries (Latomie) that arise in large numbers next to the fence path. Due to their historical importance, it’s among the heritage sites of the city, listed by UNESCO. The Park has been established in 2008 on the disused area of a former railway track used till the late 90’s. The former railway (now transformed in a runner/bike path) has “protected” this beautiful site from the Italian real estate speculation of the 60’s & 70’s, on the west side of the track. Back in the time, the buildings have been built having in consideration that they were overlooking a noisy train track, meaning an unqualified condition despite the scenic sea background. Many of those buildings are social housing that have a blind facade towards the sea. The linear park (8 km) starts at the War Memorial square, passing through to a former Tonnara (dismissed tuna fish factory) and arrives to the ancient Porta Scea in Targia.

PROJECT The municipality of Syracuse has decided to regenerate the area with a cultural masterplan, providing the park with art installations. In 2016, ten sculptures were installed in the area, designed by both local and international artists, but unfortunately some of them have been vandalized or damaged by the weather. The park is completely lacking basic infrastructure. We think this project is an opportunity to REFOUND the area, providing some functional, permanent installations. Starting from the the fascination of Ettore Sottsass’s archetypal and primitive project “Metaphors” the ambition is to provide elemental architectural items for a new founded settlement:

1. GATES defining accesses will be developed by the Portuguese Architects: FALA ATELIER

2. ENCLOSURES defining perimeters will be developed by the Chilean Architects: PEZO VON ELLRICHSHAUSEN

3. PLATFORM defining a suface will be developed by the Italian Architects: DOGMA

4. SHELTER providing shadow and weather protection with a volume will be developed by the Belgian Architects: OFFICE KERSTEN GEERS & DAVID VAN SEVEREN

All Pictures by ©️Alberto Moncada

The Italian/Belgian office Dogma has reflected on the architectural element of the platform. Their project consists in a reinterpretation of one of the most important and com¬mon archetypes of Mediterranean ancient culture: the threshing floor. Traditionally this archetype consisted of a circular space made of compacted ground or paved with stone, fenced off with rocks or delimited by a ditch. Threshing floors were sued to separate the grain from the straw, by having bulls or horses circling and stomping on the harvested wheat and yet because of their geometric and prominent form functioned also as gathering spaces. Their congregational function was often an anticipa¬tion of important civic functions such as the assembly, the theatre and the sanctuary. An important offspring of the threshing floor was the orchestra of the ancient Greek Theatre. The orchestra was the flat ground between the scene and the audience. In the early development of Greek Theatre, the or¬chestra was not the stage for individual performances but the dancefloor for intensive performances that often involved the audience. As such the threshing floor/orchestra embodies the Dionysian ethos of collective ac¬tion, disorder and unity as opposed to the Apollonian ideal of individuality and measure. The proposal attempts to revisit these themes by using the simplest and most primordial architectural ‘idea’: the platform. A 25m wide circle defines a plateau of compacted ground encircled by a dry-stone wall made of local stone. Access to the platform is only from one point. The purpose of this artifact is to offer a place for both public gatherings and informal seating, collectivity and solitude.

The Chilean office of Pezo Von Ellrichshausen has reflected on the architectural elements of enclosures with the project ATOB (from A to B) is meant to be a translation (a movement, a deviation, a transfiguration) from an unknown source to a diffuse and elusive meaning. The enclosure is a fundamental architectonic element. It comes after the demarcation of a place and before its concealment. The line is the basic attribute of an enclosure. A straight line needs to be extended enough to become a barrier (such as the frontier between two countries). Despite its extension, and depending on the depth of its concavity, a curved line always produces a spatial enclosure. The barely visible line drawn on the ground is the enclosed portion of an open field. Likewise, a low fence becomes an obstruction for someone rambling around and yet, depending on its thickness, can also serve as a bench, a table or a path to walk on top of. The opaquer and taller does this line becomes, the more spatial discontinuity comes from each side of it. The enclosure is a meeting point (and the potential reverberation of the encounter), between landscape, infrastructure, architecture, sculpture and furniture. The pavilion it is a centralized structure of ten low circular stonewalls that increase their size in a regular ratio (going from five to fifty meters in diameter). The use of local dry masonry technique together with the severe formal logic, if read intuitively, might suggest the vestiges of a forgotten monument (or at least of the circular labyrinths we all treasure at the back of our minds). These low walls are the barest enclosure of an open domain facing the Mediterranean Sea; perhaps a playground, perhaps a magic tool that accepts the mistranslations from myth to myth.

The Belgian office OFFICE KGDVS has reflected on the architectural element of the shelter. The wall that once encircled the city of Syracuse is currently only tangible in the Dionysian Wall Park as a superficial figure, a trace. Its recent history - first as a train track and more recently as bike and running trail - has left the figure of this Historical Form ghost like, in perpetual negotiation with the sea that is kept at a distance. The distance between wall and sea is fascinating, as it represents the ancient duality of outside and inside, wild and protected. They propose to build a simple figure out of local stone, much like the wall was built, between the trail and the sea. The figure makes a garden, and thus provides a stop to those who pass by walking towards the sea or return there to refresh (and take a shower) after swimming. The walled garden is a ‘hortus conclusus’ in the tradition of the Giardino Pantesco (Gardens of Pantelleria), providing the palm trees enough protection against the wind to survive. The Garden has three openings, providing access and view. The simple geometry of the figure also somewhat echoes the shape of the small fortresses, watchtowers of an elaborate protections system that are still vaguely visible in the vicini¬ty of the wall trail. The Garden refers to the ancient Wall by implication; on a safe distance, proud, understated. But, most importantly, the garden is a contemporary ‘urban’ place. It provides a place of rest and shelter, a pause before a jump in the water, a (re)new(ed) element of civilisation in the relentless landscape of the Dionysian Wall Park. The shelter protects without a roof. The environmental elements such as wind, salted water and sun are so strong in this place, that plants need a protection in order to grow and in order to protect the humans from the summer sun.

The Portuguese office FALA has reflected on the architectural element of accesses. The character of the park is in suspension, searching itself between the City and the Sea. The gates are modest stabilisers, extending the entry into the Park, making it a moment, a space. Visually striking, but extremely simple objects, made of familiar materials. Posts made of (‘eternal’) tree trunks, walls made of (‘millenary’) dry stone, coverings made of (‘contemporary’) metal sheets. Each gate is different but they all share an elementary language, understandable and appropriable – an inviting diversity at the margins of the landscape. The linear park needs moments of pause and Fala’s proposals of simple points, lines and surfaces make this pauses evident on the path.

the Portuguese studio of Eduardo Aires took care of the design of the Signage and of the new Identity of the whole area of the Park of the Dionysian Walls. Historically, city walls were meant to defend and protect, affirm military positions and establish clear boundaries between what is allowed and what is excluded, what is welcome and what is rejected. They remained as symbols of strength and power, their control meant the law of the territory, a territory constantly guarded through multiple watchtowers. With their history tied to a tyrant ruler, the Dionysian Walls were no exception. This proposal goes against that military logic. No longer an obstacle between the sea and the city, we have reconfigured the dividing line and its watchtowers into a welcome platform. Close to the ancient Dionysian walls, “Ponte” offers an access point to both the park, Syracuse and Europe. By doing so, “Ponte” symbolically opposes both formal and informal policies of exclusion, which require movement, exclusion and segregation. It reminds us that our free time on the safe bank of the park is a privilege to be shared. “Ponte” provides an elevated platform from which to contemplate the surrounding environment and look kindly at the sea. It is accessed through different entry and exit points, inducing different behaviors, performances and uses. Built in local stone, the proposed site is located at the entrance and aligned with Via Sicilia, with a platform that offers a viewpoint over the Scoglio dei Due Frati. The proposed length is 27 meters, representative of the 27 km of the walls. The upper side of the installation is painted in a gradient, from green (earth) to blue (water), a metaphor for mestizo encounters and solidarity. The south side of the plant bears the inscription PARCO DELLE MURE DIONIGIANE engraved on the stones. With this gesture, this installation takes on the very functional role of signing and identifying the park, while at the same time providing an image to be explored as the Park’s trademark. The area in its current state is called by many names, “Rossana Maiorca Cycle Path” which is in fact located within the park and crosses it, Sculpture Park, Parc01, Mazza Park, etc. This proposal aims to identify the whole area with a single name for the vestiges it contains and including the cycle path dedicated to Rossana Maiorca. The project is projected to a future extension that reaches the Eurialo Castle and includes the entire route of the Dionysian Walls (including the area of Viale Epipoli) as a City Park, for its extension and in fact the “Green Belt” of Syracuse and Archaeological Park at the same time.