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Published by Alessandra Mei on April 20 2024

The Mare Memoria Viva Ecomuseum

The ecomuseums they are physical or virtual places which, through the reconstruction of the history of a territory, want to restore memory and dignity to the territory itself and to the inhabitants. The ecomuseums collect the stories of the people who have inhabited the territory, the changes that have occurred at an urban and landscape level, to recreate the profound bond between the inhabitants and the territory they inhabit.

In Palermo the Ecomuseum is located south of the city, on the mouth of the Oreto river. It is called Ecomuseo Mare Memoria Viva (MMV), to underline the city's deep connection with the sea. This is how Cristina Alga, one of the founders, tells it:

'We are a community museum that promotes practices of care and knowledge of the urban coast of the Gulf of Palermo as an interdependent environment of human beings, plants, animals, architecture, places, stories. Let's talk about Palermo from the sea'.

Rebirth from decay

The Ecomuseum it is located in the southern area of the city, an area where the inhabitants lived in close contact with the sea, for work and passion. With the 'sack of Palermo', which took place between the 50s and 80s, the area became an illicit landfill where construction debris was dumped, illegal buildings were created which eliminated the beaches and Art Nouveau villas which housed the people of Palermo to summer holidays.

This piece of coast it was abandoned, the fishing companies closed, transforming the southern area of Palermo into a marginalized and degraded suburb. Until 2014, when the MMV Ecomuseum was built inside the former locomotive depot of Sant'Erasmo, next to the Oreto river. The ecomuseum staff began to collect the stories of the inhabitants of the seaside villages, of the shipyard workers, of the families, of the beaches and of how everything changed following the 'sack' to mend the relationship with the inhabitants and with the center of Palermo.

'(..) we're a bit of a strange thing, we are a museum, a space for festivals and conferences, an educational laboratory, a place of research, a landscape archive and we are starting work to have a bas with kitchen, a cultural project and an intergenerational gathering space managed by a social enterprise', says Cristina Alga.

A museum without barriers

For 10 years of life, the Ecomuseum has decided to renew itself, becoming the first museum accessible in an innovative way in the city. Architectural barriers have been removed and the already multimedia and interactive path has been enriched with LIS videos, tactile devices, sound experiences, applications dedicated to the use of content by blind and deaf people. All this was possible thanks to an investment of 335 thousand euros financed by the European Union through the PNRR.

An example of accessibility and usability in a Palermo that is as beautiful as it is difficult to navigate for those with disabilities, as we have already mentioned. (2) With poor pavements, lack of slides and infrastructure. And where these exist, people's sensitivity is often lacking.

Removing barriers creates 'skills'

The concept of accessibility for the ecomuseum of the Sea it is not reduced to the simple possibility of using the place by people with disabilities. It is instead associated with the word 'act'.

It is the barriers that create an obstacle, which disable certain categories of people. By removing these, the necessary comfort is created to allow everyone to enjoy socializing.

In the renovation project everyone was taken into consideration. Children, elderly people, people with low education. Shaded and seating areas were created and care was taken to ensure the safety of the common areas. And to break down as many barriers as possible: cultural, cognitive, sensorial, motor, information-related, linguistic, gender and sexual diversity and so on.

Disability rights ignored

The project of the Ecomuseo Mare Memoria Viva appears like a white fly in a country that has always ignored the rights of people with disabilities, who number 13 million in Italy. Nor has the European Union ever bothered to ensure the application of the 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The dignity of people with disabilities has always been at the center of the Égalité project, and now also at the center of Dario Dongo's political program. Candidate for the next European elections on 8 and 9 June 2024 for the Peace, Land and Dignity movement. (3)

Alessandra Mei