The experience of Lizori

Under normal circumstances, this village would have been one of the many places left to die due to the lack of any intervention.
Instead of old walls, though, today we have an active and working place, in the building system, in the links and green spaces, a place that is used as a residence, as workshop, services for the whole community (a bar, a restaurant, etc.), rooms and halls, indoor and outdoor spaces, used for cultural events that range form music to painting and theatre.
The first impression gained is that you are entering a live place, an environment that works perfectly, composed of many architectural elements, rebuilt according to their original blueprints, and that function very well in respect to their original structure, embodying the criterion of functional flexibility.

Campello & Pissignano

The relationship between Campello and Pissignano is not always cordial. Things get more complicated with outsiders who come from other parts of Italy, Rome in particular!
Certainly, there were people who appreciated Meneghetti, but most of them thought that “these Romans” would never have been the owners of the village, not being born there, even if they restored the village. No objections on this. I know that one day Meneghetti and all the rest of the crew will pass away, but the village will remain a patrimony for the inhabitants of Campello. This is what Antonio Meneghetti said in a meeting of the city Council of Campello sul Clitunno in the 80s. However, there has still been no official recognition.

Meneghetti & Lizori

As an artist, Antonio Meneghetti revitalises the place, giving a new vigour to the old genius loci, and giving everyone the chance to experience its intimate mysticism.
As an entrepreneur, he has provided Lizori with an autonomous economic strategy through private initiative, which ensures the continuing financial success of the village and its inhabitants.
As a scientist, he maintains a modern outlook for the village, using a contemporary cultural logic and safeguarding the principles of humanistic ethics, giving it efficacy and strength.
All of this projects Lizori beyond the architectural boundaries, as testimony of humanistic power. In the end, the real protagonist won’t be the Castle, but the mind of those people who can give shape to operative values of inner responsibility and historical creativity.

Giovani: stile di vita e life-long-learnig

Dal Lago e Molinari, in “Giovani senza tempo”, scrivono che “la nuova cultura del lavoro prevede il concetto di “formazione permanente”, cioè per il lavoratore non basta lavorare, ma deve necessariamente mettersi nella condizione di aggiornarsi, riqualificarsi, di ri-formarsi per tenere il passo di tecnologie e di sistemi di lavoro in incessante trasformazione”. Buzzi, Cavalli e de Lillo, in “Giovani verso il Duemila”, aggiungono che “il recente dibattito sugli squilibri occupazionali ha alimentato la diffusa opinione che la disoccupazione giovanile potrebbe essere efficacemente combattuta se i giovani fossero disponibili a cambiare la loro forma mentis nei confronti del lavoro”. I temi del “life-long-learning” e della forma mentis giovanile sono tra i punti centrali dell’applicazione della scienza ontopsicologica alla sociologia e alla pedagogia (cfr. ad esempio il libro “L’Apprendista Leader” della F.O.I.L. www.foil.it).

Stralci di Ontopsicologia

L’essere umano può pensare in infiniti modi, ma se gli interessa la realtà della vita non può pretendere che le opinioni delle accademie, delle diverse culture o delle tradizioni siano coincidenti con le leggi universali del cosmo. L’inconscio, tutto il nostro organismo, risponde a queste leggi universali. Sono leggi eterne ed inflessibili, che non possono essere in alcun modo discrezionate nel pulviscolo dell’ultima opacità atomica di questo o quell’altro essere umano.

Realizzarsi storicamente è necessario, ma la forza passa nella misura in cui ci si adegua all’intenzionalità di natura. Discutere in senso di psicologia analitica, comportamentale, o giuridica non ha senso di fronte ai grandi passaggi della vita: dobbiamo saper entrare in questo ordine per poi manovrare la nostra storia.

da ontopsicologia.org

The structure of the Castle

Lizori is a classic triangular hill castle, of great importance as rare example of a place that has maintained its structure to our days. Built along the NE – SW axis, its houses are built with a simple structure, parallel to the hillside. The orographic slope allows for two storeys houses, both on the street level. The first storeys faced Northward, while the lower storeys housed animals and services. The first interventions were made in 1976. The conditions of the houses was really bad. Most part of the main walls had been propped up or had collapsed. Roofs and floors were in ruins, and some of them were completely destroyed. There was almost no foundations, the walls being directly on the stone. This is typical when the walls of the lower storeys have a wall made of stone.

The analysis of the causes that led to the degradation allowed for a technical intervention. Among the four basic elements which constitute the structure, natural stone, brickwork, wood and mortar, only the last two seemed to be highly susceptible to deterioration, both through natural deterioration (endogenous action), and through the action of external factors (exogenous action). The second deterioration is probably worse, because it starts a chain reaction. The restoration technique needs to study all processes in reverse (sometimes through simple intuition), so that, once seen the damage, it is possible to understand what caused it and intervene, eliminating the cause with a simple maintenance.

The different solutions depend on the kind of deterioration, which avoids standardised and useless interventions. This method avoids a kind of intervention based on figurative and material culture, thus guaranteeing a good result and the preservation of the place, which also leaves the relationship between work of art and craftsmanship intact. All the materials employed have mostly been taken from old materials. Apart form these, new material was added, worked with traditional methods (very rare and expensive). In case it needed to be substituted, all the material was stored for a possible future use. Under the static profile, all the elements that could not be used were used for new functions, thus integrating this new functional use with an aesthetic use. This kind of solution can be seen inside some houses, as well as in the streets. The use of an “open system” rather than an industrialised method made with predetermined compounds has guaranteed the use of rare techniques (see the squaring of girders) and the creative flexibility for the solution of different problems.

Lizori

In July 1975, a group made of architects, American artists and others gathered here. They made an attempt to draw the institutions’ attention with the operation called Save the Castle of Pissignano. After some initial expressions of interest, these potential sponsors quickly decided that, rather than being a possible goldmine, the project would require years of work, with no easy profits in sight.
So, there was the village on the one hand (or at least the idea of it), and there was the idea to save it as soon as possible on the other, because this was going to last forever. Last but not least, funds had to be found. The general opinion was that the whole thing required a lot of money.