Regenerating allows the community to reappropriate and revive itself through new spaces, with obvious improvements in the quality of life and in the social, economic and environmental spheres. Over the years, there have been numerous actions aimed at the recovery and redevelopment of urban space. Among all of them, the Houses for 1 euro project has had the greatest resonance, which has allowed the repopulation of the Village and a consequent economic growth of the same. Also contributing to the enhancement of the Saracen Quarter were the numerous artistic initiatives that, among majolica panels and brightly colored murals, gave light back to the Historic Center, particularly "Li Setti Vaneddi." There were also numerous grants that affected the Borgo, from Piazza Navarro to Purrere, passing through the "Strada Granni," thanks to the "Sambuca Welcoming. A S.M.A.R.T. Community Village between tradition and innovation," selected in 2021 by the MIBACT (now MIC) and curated by Kòrai - Territory, Development and Culture, a cultural and creative enterprise to which we also owe the realization of the project of artistic residencies, from which new works of art were born that today embellish the Borgo and reveal its roots.
Houses for 1 euro
Numerous urban regeneration projects have affected the Borgo over the past decade. In particular, in recent years Sambuca has made headlines for the success of the "houses for 1 euro" (and later also "houses for 2 euro") call for bids, publicized in 2019 by the CCN, with the aim of revitalizing the Borgo, recovering -at the same time- homes that were in danger of becoming abandoned. Among the buyers, many Americans were fascinated by the beauty of the hamlet and what it offers. This is precisely the case of American actress Lorraine Bracco, who renovated one of the 1 euro houses for the filming of the TV series "My Big Italian Adventure" on HGTV and Discovery+.
Art and Urban Regeneration.
An important contribution to urban regeneration involved the redevelopment of the ancient Zabut neighborhood, thanks to a project presented by the City of Sambuca and the Gianbecchina Institution in 2019, called "The Thousand Colors of the Saracen Quarter" to enhance and redevelop the ancient Zabut neighborhood. It is a diffuse hub of contemporary art taking the name "Di porta in porta" to which 25 Sicilian artists have joined, with the aim of enhancing the great architectural heritage.
In the years to follow, the Saracen neighborhood has been the protagonist of other urban regeneration projects by local and non-local artists. This is the case of the mural dedicated to love, created by painter Peppe Vaccaro (aka "Blu di Peppe") with the collaboration of Sambucese artist Lorenzo Maniscalco and sculptor Gabriele Venanzio.
In October 2023, the Arab quarter will once again be embellished with a work titled "Li libbra fannu li labbra," co-created by artists Maniscalco and Vaccaro and 21 other participants in the project "Ti ci devo portare... a Sambuca," conceived by Content Creator Ilenia Curiale.
Several times the young artist Lorenzo Maniscalco has been the protagonist of urban regeneration works. In fact, he is responsible for the creation of the ceramic panel inaugurated in January 2021, which tells the story of the Borgo, made up not only of architecture, but of the women and men who have manned and built it over time.
Important urban qualification funding
As part of the 2019 cohesion plan, the Assessorato Reg.le Beni Culturali has funded the Municipality of Sambuca in the amount of 890,000.00 euros for urban upgrading works in the historic center. These operations are to be inscribed in an overall path of redevelopment of the entire historic center of Sambuca, already initiated in the past by the municipal administration. The redevelopment of the areas targeted - Navarro Square, Largo San Michele and the axis of Belvedere Street - relocates the intervention in these individual spaces within an overall approach on the entire urban core.
Territorial redevelopment-funding in Sambuca.
By a Decree of the Ministry of the Interior in agreement with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Municipality of Sambuca obtained three funds for a total amount of €. 2,040,000.00 in order to: carry out works of consolidation and recovery of the upper part of the inhabited Center and the area of the Arab castle's result; carry out works of urban redevelopment and consolidation with enhancement of other "Purrere" that insist in the Arab Quarter; implement works of mitigation of hydrogeological instability in C.da Cuvio.
Sambuca Welcoming- An S.M.A.R.T. Community.
The project "Sambuca Welcoming. A S.M.A.R.T. Community Village between tradition and innovation" was selected in 2021 by MIBACT (now MIC) among the intervening