Reuse and Renovation of Architectural Heritage Between Governmental, Administrative and Residential Uses. The Case of Palazzo Colucci and the Former Convent of the Virgins in the Historic Center of Ascoli Piceno

As part of the “third mission” activities, the relationships between the Department of Civil, Building, and Architecture Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Marche (scientific director Prof. Gianluigi Mondaini) and the National Agency for State Property has produced a study aimed at verifying the potential of a possible strategy for the reuse and repurposing of two significant state-owned buildings in the heart of the historical center of the city of Ascoli Piceno.

In particular the paper treats the case of Palazzo Colucci, with its garden and the former Convent of the Vergini later transformed and expanded to serve as a military barracks. Within this transformation process, the hypothesis of converting these buildings into the new headquarters of the Prefecture of Ascoli Piceno and into the new headquarters of the Southern Marche Superintendency, together with a university dormitory with related services open to the public has been proposed.

To meet the changing needs of the contemporary city, the hypothesis of a functional mix of governmental, administrative, and residential uses within a strategic part of the historic city can be an opportunity for urban regeneration and enhancement of the preexisting architectural heritage. This approach sensitizes and coordinates a variety of public and private entities that, together, would actively contribute to the urban transformation process, bringing life and innovative uses to an urban area that is currently largely inactive. The intervention hypothesis, taking into account the various demands, has engaged with the spatial, geometric, and qualitative features of a system of historic buildings that mark the end of the ancient decumanus of the Roman layout of the city of Ascoli Piceno. This approach aims to respond to new requirement frameworks while primarily promoting an integrated architecture capable of dialogue between history and contemporary innovation.