The Role of Local Communities and the Third Sector in the Regeneration of Cultural Heritage: The Case of Forte Pozzarello
Abstract: The widespread presence of disused historic assets represents one of the main challenges in the protection and enhancement of cultural heritage across Italian territories. Military fortifications, religious complexes, historic villas, and rural structures—once central to the economic and social life of local communities—are today often deprived of their original function and subject to processes of progressive degradation. This contribution analyzes the role of public heritage enhancement policies and the growing involvement of the third sector in processes of recovery and territorial regeneration. In this perspective, the case of Forte Pozzarello, located on the Argentario promontory, is examined as a significant example of collaboration between public institutions and civic volunteerism in restoring a disused historic asset to collective use.
Keywords: #CulturalHeritage #HeritageEnhancement #CoastalFortifications #Argentario #FortePozzarello #ThirdSector #CulturalVolunteering #TerritorialRegeneration #StatePropertyAssets #EnhancementConcession #RobertoCerulli #EthicaSocietas #EthicaSocietasMagazine #ScientificJournal #SocialSciences #ethicasocietasupli
Roberto Cerulli (1971), with over 25 years of service in the Local Police, currently Commander in Capalbio (GR), he is a jurist specialized in administrative law and human resources management, author of several publications, actively engaged in civil and religious volunteer work. He serves as Regional Vice President of the Federation of Tuscan Misericordie and as a member of the Council of Elders of the National Confederation of the Misericordie of Italy.
A Widespread but Often Overlooked Heritage
In Italy there exists a widespread heritage that rarely appears in tourist postcards or in the most famous travel guides. These include decommissioned military forts, abandoned convents, forgotten historic villas, rural farmhouses, and architectural complexes that for decades played a central role in the life of local communities and that, with the passage of time, have remained without a defined function.
When a historic property loses its original purpose, a slow process of abandonment often begins. Roofs collapse, walls deteriorate, vegetation advances, and the place gradually ceases to be part of the everyday life of the community.
Yet a historic building is never merely a physical structure. It is constructed memory, territorial identity, and a tangible testimony to the civil, military, religious, or economic history of a place.
For this reason, the enhancement of abandoned historic assets represents today one of the most important challenges for local communities. It is not simply a matter of restoring buildings, but of restoring meaning and function to places that tell the story of our past.
The Risk of Abandonment
The degradation of historic assets is not merely an aesthetic or cultural issue. Unused buildings often become sources of urban and territorial criticality, leading to structural deterioration, safety risks, loss of value in the surrounding landscape, and the progressive marginalization of entire areas.
When a public property remains unused for years, a symbolic loss also occurs. Spaces that once served as centers of activity and community life become urban voids, perceived as forgotten places.
Reversing this dynamic means initiating processes of territorial regeneration capable of combining heritage protection, cultural development, and civic participation.
The Role of Institutions and the Third Sector
The recovery of historic assets requires appropriate administrative tools and a strategic vision on the part of public institutions. However, in recent years the decisive role played by the third sector has become increasingly evident.
Associations, confraternities, foundations, and volunteer organizations often represent the most authentic driving force behind the enhancement of abandoned historic properties. They are not merely management bodies, but communities of people who choose to care for shared heritage.
Behind many restoration projects lies the quiet commitment of volunteers and citizens who, out of civic responsibility, attachment to their land, and respect for history and art, devote their time and energy to safeguarding cultural heritage.
Cultural volunteering thus becomes a concrete form of active citizenship: recovering a historic asset also means rebuilding social relationships, creating new spaces for encounter, and restoring identity to places.
The Case of Forte Pozzarello
A significant example of this process of regeneration is Forte Pozzarello, located on the Argentario promontory, overlooking the bay of Porto Santo Stefano in the province of Grosseto.
The fort was built in the second half of the nineteenth century, approximately between 1870 and 1880, within the framework of the major coastal defense works promoted by the newly established Kingdom of Italy after national unification. During those years the Italian government launched a vast program of fortification along the Tyrrhenian coast with the aim of protecting strategic ports and sensitive coastal points.
The Argentario promontory represented a crucial node for controlling maritime routes in the northern Tyrrhenian Sea and for protecting the area’s port infrastructure.
Forte Pozzarello was designed as a coastal military outpost: a defensive masonry structure with artillery positions facing the sea and a strategic location capable of monitoring access to the bay of Porto Santo Stefano.
During the twentieth century, with the evolution of military technologies and the gradual transformation of defensive strategies, many coastal fortifications lost their original function. Forte Pozzarello was progressively decommissioned and remained unused for a long time.
As often happens with many disused public assets, the absence of a function led over the years to a gradual state of abandonment.
The Enhancement Concession and the Role of the Misericordia
A decisive step toward the recovery of the fort came with the activation of the legal instruments for the enhancement of public heritage provided by the Italian legal system.
The reference regulatory framework is based on Article 3-bis of Decree-Law No. 351 of 25 September 2001, converted into Law No. 410/2001, which introduced into the Italian system the so-called enhancement concessions for state-owned real estate. This model was subsequently strengthened by Article 58 of Decree-Law No. 112 of 25 June 2008 and by the provisions contained in the Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape (Legislative Decree 42/2004), which promote forms of collaboration between public administrations and private or third-sector actors for the management and recovery of cultural assets.
Through these instruments the State can entrust unused public properties to entities that undertake to recover and enhance them, returning them to collective use.
It was within this framework that the Italian State Property Agency (Demanio dello Stato) granted Forte Pozzarello for twenty-five years to the Confraternity of the SS. Sacramento and Misericordia ODV of Porto Santo Stefano.
The Misericordia, a historic volunteer institution deeply rooted in the local community and long engaged in social and assistance activities, assumed responsibility for the enhancement of the fort with a project aimed at returning the site to the community.
From Military Outpost to Civic Landmark
The recovery of Forte Pozzarello is not merely an intervention of architectural conservation. It represents a project of territorial regeneration built around community participation.
The volunteers of the Misericordia, together with citizens and supporters, are contributing to the rebirth of this historic place through activities of care, maintenance, cultural initiatives, and social projects.
The goal is not to transform the fort into a static monument, but to restore it as a living space: a place for meetings, cultural and social activities, and a reference point for the community.
In this perspective, Forte Pozzarello becomes the symbol of a broader transformation: from a military structure created for territorial defense to a civic landmark dedicated to the social and cultural life of the community.
Preserving History to Build the Future
Recovering a historic asset is not merely an intervention on material heritage; it is an act of responsibility toward collective memory and future generations. Every stone returned to the community represents the will not to allow time to erase the traces of our identity and history.
In this path of protection and enhancement, the commitment of the Misericordia acquires an even deeper meaning. Through the dedication of volunteers, the care for places, and attention to the community, the recovery of heritage becomes a concrete gesture of service, consistent with the values of solidarity and civic commitment that have always characterized the work of the Misericordia.
The enhancement of abandoned assets demonstrates that cultural heritage is not something to be preserved only in books or museums. It is a living resource capable of generating identity, participation, and new opportunities for the territory.
When public institutions, associations, and citizens join their efforts, even places that once seemed destined for oblivion can once again become shared spaces, rich in meaning and life.
Forte Pozzarello tells precisely this story. It tells of a community that refuses to surrender to forgetfulness and instead chooses to care for its history. Thanks to the commitment of the Misericordia and the passion of its volunteers, this place has once again become a living part of the territory: no longer merely a defensive outpost overlooking the sea, but a symbol of cooperation, memory, and future.
This project represents something more as well: a virtuous example that goes beyond the local dimension and stands as a national model of how civic volunteering can contribute concretely to the protection and enhancement of historic heritage.
It demonstrates that when civic commitment meets institutional vision and the sense of belonging of a community, it is possible to transform a forgotten place into a shared resource.
It is proof that when volunteering places itself at the service of the community, history does not remain frozen in the past: it returns to life, becoming a bridge between what we have been and what we can still build together.
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