I comunisti siciliani e la questione urbanistica. Dal risanamento a un'idea di città (1952-1966)

Abstract

This essay reconstructs how Sicilian communists addressed the urban question between the post-war reconstruction and the debates opened by the centre-left in the 1960s. Focusing on Palermo and on Pio La Torre’s political activity, it shows the shift from the demand for the “rehabilitation” of working-class districts and the defence of the historic centre to a broader reflection on planning, modernization and the social use of the city. The struggle against building speculation, the critique of suburban “satellite villages” and the response to the Agrigento landslide reveal how the PCI gradually elaborated a political idea of urban development.