Citadel of Wisdom

Wisdom, memory, tradition.

Since ancient times, the elderly have been ascribed a function of extreme value within the community: they were the village heads, the judicious ones, counsellors, pacifiers, keepers of the people’s memory, traditions, and identity. They used to represent the past; not a trunk of inflexible rigidity, but a root from which a steady and thriving future can bloom.

From the West to the East, pre-industrial civilisations teem with virtuous models of elder people who were entrusted with the guidance of the community – political, familial, and moral: they were authorities and judges in ancient Rome and in the Middle East, depositories of spirituality and beliefs in the native American tribes and Induism, cult and worship icons in China and Japan.

In a time which is increasingly oriented toward models of individual hyper-productivity and less and less toward communitarian solidarity, the position of the elderly has been gradually downsized, relegated to an increasingly liminal – often extra-familial – space, with the resulting complications.

It is in such a context that the need for infrastructures that can reintegrate the elderly into the community takes form, fostering the intergenerational relationships that, for centuries, have allowed history and culture to endure eras and generations, resisting the relentless passage of time to find, at each occurrence, a renewed and richer expression.

Thus, through the initiative of Oltre Noi Foundation – Capalbio, in close collaboration with the Municipality of Capalbio, Citadel of Wisdom aims to create a day centre for the elderly in the Tuscan Maremma, a context which has historically relied on older people to pass on knowledge, abilities, folk songs, sayings, and stories which kept the history and identity of the whole area alive. With a broader outlook, the intervention will then have a second evolutionary phase, which will include the analysis of a project aimed at defining a mix of residences for self-sufficient seniors, ensuring they live with dignity and are fully integrated in the social fabric.

In the medieval hamlet of Capalbio, in dialogue with the rural landscape and 14th-century architecture, designers must imagine a place that bridges generations and eras: an architecture which is at once recognisable and in harmony with the context, providing the elderly with a chance for connection, social life, and well-being, and offering young people prospects for learning, growth, and belonging.

YAC, the foundation, and the Municipality of Capalbio thank the designers who will take on this challenge.

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