Il priorato di S. Andrea extra Placeam e i quattro mulini: ipotesi di riuso e valorizzazione di un simbolo identitario della città di Piazza Armerina

A precious evidence from the medieval period, the Church of St. Andrew is a key element in the reconstruction of the genesis and evolution of Piazza Armerina, well-known for the Villa Romana del Casale but just as rich in cultural heritage. The building, located on the north-west outskirts of the city, was probably erected in the first half of XII century by Simone Aleramico, Count of Butera and then by him donated, along with four mills and other goods, to the military order of the Holy Sepulcher. The elongated rectangular structure with a transept and three apses is now all that remains of the Grand Priory; on the vestiges of what was almost certainly the cenoby, there is a small rural edifice built in the 40s of the last century and today semi-abandoned. The church, used for sporadic events, also appears physically and perceptually separated from the Gela river landscape to which was historically linked, because of the presence of an overpass. Seen as the starting point of a knowledge path of the old mills of the area, the project that this work intends to summarize proposes some hypotheses of reuse and valorization aimed at giving back to the whole territory, the identity values partially lost.