The Urban Landscape in the Graphic Representations of the Cathedral of Palermo

Abstract

This study proposes some reflections on the relationship between the Cathedral of Palermo and the urban portion where it is placed, in relation to the indissoluble connection with the landscape that in the history offered a variety of perceptive suggestions marked by the passage and the coexistence of different cultural and social domination. To this end, the multiscale historical-urban planning analysis puts in place the role that territorial and urban morphology has had over time in relation to the Cathedral of Palermo. In this sense, the relationship between the architectural artefacts, such as the Royal Palace and the Town Hall, and the urban context is studied according to its access routes, from the Phoenician domination to the nineteenth century configuration, through the examination of graphic studies on the Arab-Norman city, on the first cartographies of 16th century, up to the representations of Gaetano Lossieux of 1818. The cartographic analysis and the elaboration of an orographic model provide images of the historical stratification of Palermo’s urban texture. The objective is to highlight how the perception of the building changed together with the landscape and urban modifications through the integration of the 3d model of the Cathedral within the urban digital model.

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