Bolzano's War Damage and Reconstruction

Ruins of public and private buildings, destroyed factories, residential buildings reduced to piles of rubble, squares littered with materials, roads, airport bridges destroyed, barracks, civilians and military personnel under the rubble: these are images that the television brings back violently to our minds and fills us with despair. For the Community, these are images we have seen in 1919, in 1945 and many times since. Images that bring the destruction to our minds and immediately highlight and suggest the difficulties and struggles of the subsequent reconstruction of a healthy economy and places and spaces to live. Starting from the devastated landscapes of the war, it seemed interesting to trace the reconstruction phase of Bolzano after the Second World War. Bolzano is a small town in the Alps, founded in 1024 by the prince-Bishops of Trento. Throughout the millennia of its existence, it has undergone progressive growth and several wars have damaged its layout and buildings. The extensive damage to the original centre of the city because of the bombing during the Second World War has gradually been under repair. Today, almost a hundred years later, the problems of reconstruction are still evident in the image and structure of the city.