Enhancing cultural and natural heritage as a lever for the regeneration of rural areas The village of Bënjë, Southern Albania, as a case study

This book describes a research carried out by the Department of Architecture (DIDA) of the University of Florence within the framework of the “Develop Community Resources through the Valorisation of the Natural and Cultural Heritage” programme. This programme, founded by the Italian Government and promoted and managed bythe Italian Agency for Development Cooperation in the Western Balkans in Tiranë, contributes to the effective implementation of the Strategic Plan for Development and Integration 2015-2020 – NSDI of the Albanian Government, Albania’s most important strategic document in view of joining the European Union. In particular, the research aims to initiate a process of sustainable and socially inclusive development in the Albanian village of Bënjë, in the municipality of Përmet, Gijrokastër County. In a previous study (Laurìa et al., 2020), a set of coordinated interventions (strategies and actions) aimed at the regeneration of Bënjë through the recovery and enhancement of its cultural heritage (tangible and intangible) was defined. The objectives of the research presented here are as follows: (1) identify within this set of interventions the most effective and feasible one to achieve the given objective with the available resources, and (2) prepare the narrative master plan and preliminary design of the selected intervention. Of the various options available it was decided, in consultation with the client, to focus on the rehabilitation of the road leading from the thermal area near the Kadiu Bridge over the Lëngarica River to the village. The book is divided into two parts. The first part (“Cognitive framework”) consists of three chapters. Chapter 1 (“For a reading of the territory”) defines the territorial and landscape framework of Përmet, the municipality in which the village of Bënjë is located. It is made up of two sections: in the first, Francesco Alberti and Eni Nurihana critically trace the evolution of the territory and provide an overview of the strategic and spatial planning entrusted to its future development; in the second, Gabriele Paolinelli offers a lively description of the landscapes drawn by the Vjosa River and its tributaries. In Chapter 2 (“Bënjë: a village and its people”), Antonio Laurìa gives an overview of the historical, cultural and social events, as well as the landscape, settlement and architectural aspects that characterise the village. Particular attention is paid to the description of the relationship between Bënjë and its inhabitants over time, to the Architectural Complex of St Mary, which has always represented the heart of the village, and to a number of places that have played an important role in the daily life of the villagers. Chapter 3 (“A path to Bënjë”) introduces the object of study – the path connecting the thermal area to the village – in its environmental context. After a brief introduction by Antonio Laurìa, who outlines the coordinates of the design intervention, Gabriele Paolinelli and Flavia Veronesi offer a detailed description of the ecological and naturalistic, historical and archaeological, scenic and panoramic features that characterise the path. In the third and concluding section, Pietro Matracchi reflects on the dense network of ancestral paths that criss-cross the territory, drawing attention to both minute and diffuse elements and to the monumental landmarks that characterise the path under study in a ‘logical’ relationship with the orographic and geological conditions of the environment. The second part of the book (“Results”) also consists of three chapters. Chapter 4. (“The project proposal”) presents the design experience carried out by the DIDA research group. In the first section, Antonio Laurìa describes the methodology that lies behind the project, while in the second and third sections Francesco Alberti and Mirko Romagnoli illustrate the preliminary design of the path and its arrival point in the village: the external spaces of the Architectural Complex of St Mary and, in particular, the eastern part of the church parvis. In Chapter 5. (“Early elements for a Lëngarica River Greenway”), Gabriele Paolinelli explores the theme of greenways through the case study of the lower Lëngarica River Valley, illustrating a methodological and operational proposal that could form the basic core of subsequent interventions to be implemented in the Vjosa River Valley. In Chapter 6. (“What future for Bënjë?”), Antonio Laurìa and Pier Angelo Mori illustrate some hypotheses and conditions for the activation of a possible process of regeneration of Bënjë and its territory.