Fragments of the Iron Curtain. The Polveriera of Romans d’Isonzo: A Methodological Experiment between Architecture and Landscape

The article accounts the results of an applicative research carried out by researchers from the University of Trieste for the recovery, conversion and, architectural, landscape, environmental and infrastructural reuse of a large military area, abandoned for over twenty years, located in the territory of Gorizia, in Friuli Venezia Giulia. The area was a former powder magazine dating back to the Cold War period. A garrison at the service of the former border called “Iron Curtain” that passed right near the Municipality of Romans d’Isonzo, on the Gorizia and Trieste Carso. The area was abandoned for decades and has been invaded by lush vegetation and meadows of important ecological value. Today, in addition to its considerable localization and extension potential, it has a significant strategic value for the vast area on which it stands: the low Isonzo plain. The study experimented with a methodology for the construction of the transformation forecast, working extensively on the use and applicability of simulation tools (indicators, scenarios, visions) and then on the processes of evaluating the impacts and consequences of the transformations at different scales and for different territorial areas (internal and external). The study adds to the discussion, not only the intrinsic results, the effectiveness or not of the reconversion project of this discussed military area, but also the development of a working scientific method (analysis, design and evaluation), and therefore, the construction of an operational model that can be exported to other case studies (on other military sites in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region) and on other contexts (in general on abandoned or disused areas).