The restaurant "LE TERME", built inside an ancient spa complex in the historic center of Cefalù.

The project, entrusted to the architect Salvatore Curcio with the high surveillance of the competent Superintendency of Palermo, has foreseen the recovery of an ancient architectural complex in the historic center of Cefalù (Bagni Cicerone), close to the beach and the ancient fortification curtain to the west of the town, precisely in via Bagni Cicerone, from which the same street takes its name.

The complex was the subject, during 2017, of an archaeological excavation campaign, directed by the competent Superintendency of Palermo and financed by the owner company, which brought to the surface ancient significant remains, adding an important scientific piece to the great historical memory of the city. The complex consists of two connected rooms, one perpendicular to the other. The main access is from via Bagni Cicerone, the sea side room has a large opening that overlooks the beach close to the building curtain. From a purely architectural point of view, the room adjacent and parallel to via Bagni Cicerone has an almost rectangular plan surmounted by a pointed arch. The sea side room also has a rectangular plan and is surmounted by a round vault. In the room on the street side, with a pointed arch vault, a column complete with capital and a capital without a column were found under the wall face, in a mirror-like position.

In the sea side room, with a barrel vault, the excavations have brought to the surface the ancient suspensurae of the thermal baths and the passageways of the ancient systems that supplied the water. 

The project to change the use of urban use was based on a simple concept, namely inserting light steel and glass structures inside the premises, without affecting the existing wall faces. This was achieved only after carrying out the architectural recovery and restoration works, therefore, everything was installed as furniture. A floating floor was provided under which the various systems (water, electricity, air conditioning and air treatment) were inserted.

The project played a significant role in the entire recovery process, responding to all needs, including unforeseen events that arose during construction, both of a technical, functional and aesthetic nature.

In the recovery of the Cicerone Baths, ancient architecture has been renewed establishing a strong relationship with the ways of use of today's city, there is no architectural renewal without this relationship. Furthermore, designing a contemporary activity within an architectural "ruin" suggests a profound vision of the very concept of architecture: the ruin is a building that by losing it has acquired universality, losing everything that made it adequate to respond to related tasks. to a society, to customs, to rituals, losing all this the ruin assumes the ability to offer a key to interpretation and universal vision.

The idea of ​​the universality of the ruin allows us to read the authentic characteristics of architecture, stimulating other design visions and contemporary contents, making it fruitful with its readmission into the circuit of the existence of life. Precisely because the ruin has survived the eclipse of civilizations and the ways of using ancient societies, it expresses all its power of involvement, pushing us to think and imagine new destinies for that form, not specific to that ruin, but new contents. that assuming the connotations of that form, they are loaded with new meanings which they will then have to fatally lose to become new ruins, a cycle destined to never end.

The project for the "Le Teme" restaurant in 2021 received an Honorable Mention at the national competition CarlottaxArchitettura, interior and / or design section, promoted by the Foundation of Architects of Catania, by the Orders of Architects of Catania, Bologna and Syracuse.

Photo: Giuseppe Lo Presti - Vincenzo Di Stefano