Derna: a gateway of Libya.The ethical value of identity and the vision for the birth of a new urbanity

The importance of Derna and its strategic position within history and tradition of Libya has been often undervalued. Its crucial role, in recent months, in Mediterranean politics and in the fight against Islamic extremism, shows how this territory is still an important centre of relations and ties that run along the entire Mediterranean and that in the city of Derna have settled and summed up in an extraordinary way through an ultra-millennial path. The analysis phases lead to the recognition of its crucial role as a gateway to and from the Mediterranean and as a place of sedimentation of the knowledge and forms of adaptation to the territory that come to Libya from the East thanks to the Berber and Islamic peoples, but also from the sea through the Greeks and Romans. Hence the search for hidden but still vital elements on which to base the vision of a possible "Rebirth project" for the city of Derna and of its multiple systems of anthropic landscape. The aim is therefore to support the reconstruction of the memory of such a complex urban place and to support the birth of a new urbanity that is resilient and aware of its strength and its link with the Mediterranean peoples. For this, a proper understanding of the settlement system in its historical, cultural, spatial and hierarchical dimensions is essential for the definition of effective projects for cultural, urban and landscape enhancement, and in appraising the repercussions of alternative urban programmes.