Le Torri di Governolo

The overall design strategy moves from the idea of reconstructing a scenario now underlying, ancient, The "Seraglio"; Etymologically: serràglio1 s. m. [Latin late serracŭlum, der. of serrare: v. serrare]. - 1. a. ant. Shelter, barricade of shelter or defense. A territorial portion of the Mantua area, the Serraglio anciently was garrisoned by forts, towers and walls that together with water (a structuring element of the territory) defined a sharp caesura between the inside and the outside. An inside also constituted by the city of Mantva, which with the remaining part of the territory, circumscribed to the northeast by the Mincio to the south by the Po' and to the west by the famous floodable canal of the Serraglio, precisely, constituted one great machine, a hydraulic machine. This is because the innumerable chiaviche pre-sent in the territory allowed the water to be regulated, flooding it. From this are defined six gates for an eccentric city, Manto-va, which arise from the rereading of historical traces but not only: Forte Paiolo, Porta ponte dei mulini, Porta San Giorgio, Porta Po', Forte Frassine and finally The Towers of Governolo. Six gates linked two by two by a single Theme: The Garda Dam (Forte Paiolo- Porta ponte dei mulini), The outposts of the menagerie (Porta San Giorgio-Porta Po') and the Landing from the Adriatic (Forte Frassine- Le torri di Governolo). The gateway ''Le Torri di Governolo,'' lands in the village Governolo and is located in the eastern part of the Serraglio, in which it has always played the role of pivotal carrier, both from the historical point of view, for its defensive system, both natural being the mouth of the Mincio that flows into the Po, and artificial with its system of marinas, bridges, roads and hydraulic machines, which regulate the flow of the Mantuan waters. Through the study and interpolation of historical traces with contemporary ones, the most concrete conclusion was to turn this territory toward a closer connection of its parts, in particular, to tie the ancient village with the northern part, bathed by the artificial canal, Tartaro Canalbianco Po, proposing here a new landing place with its lighthouse and a fair area for the citadel and the whole Serraglio. It was interesting to understand how anciently the embankments near the harbors were inhabited in Mantua and to find parallels between these elements with the design of pure forms of Aldo Rossi's arrangement of the Fiera Catena area. The project, then, restarts through a bicycle and pedestrian connection through the old town, crossing over the ancient bed of the Mincio River, then, connects the tip of the mouth from the south retraces the inner embankments and canals and reaches the area reserved for the landing site project to the north. Taking up the shapes of the references, the square and the circle, the project encloses the part of the commercial warehouses to the east, dividing the agricultural field and the commercial landing, and to the west a new circular inhabited embankment, on one side circumscribes, the reservoir of the new marina, and on the other leaves behind the space for the fairgrounds, and it is here that the subdivision of the double embankment like the ancient Mantuan ports is resumed. The first embankment separates the dock from the river and the second, retains rainwater, which is collected in lamination tanks to cope with, excessive rainfall. The elevation of the porticoed architecture bordering the dock is punctuated by arcuate forms, and the structure involves the use of exposed cast-in-place concrete. The port gate is punctuated on one side by the tall tower and on the other by the staircase suspended over the water connecting the two levels of the embankment, both distinguishable elements made of patinated steel. The complex arrangement, with the new distinguishable elements attempts, therefore, to evoke a landing on a new island in the Serraglio¸ plain that the ancient village with its castle once was.