IDENTITY AND GIOVE: HILL TOWNS ARE ALIVE AND WELL IN UMBRIA

Identity has been a major factor in establishing and maintaining traditional forms of dwellings and settlements. Today this connection between people and place has been fragmented because of social, economic and technological forces. An examination of the hill town of Giove in 1987 revealed how twentieth century people can identify with places built long ago. The author's "reading" of Giove and similar hill towns in the area revealed several key points: Each hill town should be experienced as an integrated whole rather than as a series of architectural elements; Adaptability to influences today is favorable when compared with earlier incremental changes of traditional urban form and is facilitated by modern communication and technology; The unique spatial settings of hill towns are of broad appeal and benefit to a diverse population; The contrast between the deteriorated environment of today's massive metropolitan areas and the clean air, quiet, human contact and opportunties for fresh identities in hill towns has become a viable resource for sustained vitality; The conformity of architectural traditions among towns is offset by a great diversity of morphology; A regional framework is essential to understanding the quality of individual places, their sources of identity, and current or potential vitality; The experiential, intuitive method of analysis can create new opportunities for user identity in contemporary urban design and restoration.