Anthropical caves in apulia region: investigation and reuse strategies

Housing in anthropical caves has characterized over the years several regions throughout the Mediterranean Basin. Sites of troglodytic architectures are numerous and widely known as worldwide cultural heritage: the settlements in Matera, Cappadocia and Petra, as well as the dwellings in Matmatah and Guadix. Nevertheless, a system of smaller towns and structures for housing, worship and defence is still hidden. Over the last decades, starting from some studies in the 60’s, the attention to environmental problems and sustainable construction has led to a new interest toward the hypogeal architecture. The present study is going to address a typological and morphological analysis, specifically in terms of volumetric, architectural and historical features, of anthropical caves in Apulia Region. In fact, in such area, artificial caves are spread out: some of them, they are ravines, deep and narrow canyons from Karst erosion, with hundreds of caves of different typologies and sizes; some others, they are underground settlements, like in Canosa di Puglia, Andria, Gravina di Puglia, Massafra, Mottola, with a complex system of hypogeal rooms, which are connected one another and organized on different floors under the built-up area. Specifically, the paper will focus on two case studies: Palagianello and Canosa. First, it will address a typological classification of several structures by pointing out excavation techniques, planimetric arrangements, space transformation solutions, selection of materials and decorations. Then, it will study possible reuse strategies and models, which are consistent with specific features and historical uses of such structures.