The park of the octagonal tower: a project of restoration and flexible reuse for the Tower of Frederick in Enna (Sicily)

The so-called Tower of Federico, with its characteristic octagonal floor plan, is part of the military's medieval Old Castle complex, built in Enna most probably during Swabian domination. Today, this interesting monument to which the city is particularly devoted, suffers from some degradation phenomena due to both a lack of appropriate maintenance actions, past interventions not always appropriate and underused by the local population and tourists. Therefore, this project is based on the comprehension of the architectural building: an accurate historical research and a 3D surveying campaign integrated with direct recognition, thermographic and other diagnostic investigations, led to its stratigraphic analysis and to the identification of existing diseases. Solutions were, then, studied for the removal of pathologies, the restoration of hard surfaces, and new proposals for the roof elaborated. Lastly, a dutiful strengthening of the monument’s cultural role was envisaged, based on its integration into the surrounding park, the re-design of the landscape architecture and the establishment of underground halls able of adapting without invasiveness to new respectful functions.