“Man advances straight along his path because he has a goal; he knows where he is going, has decided to reach a certain place, and sets out on the most direct route. The donkey moves in a zigzag, occasionally distracted by something, due to its stubborn nature; it zigzags to avoid the larger stones, to dodge steep stretches, to seek shade; it takes it easy as much as possible. Man possesses reason to moderate his feelings, knows how to restrain passions and instincts in view of the goal he aims for. Intelligence commands the beast within him, dictates the rules of life derived from experience [...] The donkey thinks of nothing else but disregarding everything.

In the earliest inhabited lands, carts passed where they could squeeze between crevices and cliffs; a stream represented a significant obstacle. Thus, paths and roads began to form. At their crossroads, along watercourses, the first villages arose; houses lined the roads traced by the passage of donkeys. Around them, walls were built [...] where the donkey’s road arrived, city gates opened. The village grows into a great metropolis. Paris, Rome, Istanbul all arose on the paths of the donkeys.”

Le Corbusier

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Key points of the rehabilitation proposal for the village of Mandonico focus on preserving the identity of the place both from a naturalistic and cultural perspective, promoting sustainable use, and ensuring functional access. To this end, the design process identifies two main intervention areas — conservation and implementation — two parallel and complementary strategies that, at every design scale (from territorial to technological detail), interact to define where and how to intervene.

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Conservation aims to halt the degradation process and safeguard all elements that form part of Mandonico’s identity.

Implementation concerns the functional part of the project necessary to ensure maintenance and appropriate use consistent with the characteristics of the place. It manifests outside the built environment with a panoramic path that integrates harmoniously into the natural context; it “leans” on the steep slopes with a lightweight structure made of corten steel ribs supporting a massive wooden base. Inside the existing volumes, it is expressed through the insertion of an “internal box” that achieves a proper balance between contemporary and pre-existing architecture, which is the cornerstone of the revitalization intervention.