A story in smoke: the recovery of the tobacco manifacture in Benevento

Pier Luigi Nervi, famous worldwide for his structural insights and for his works that has left a legacy, is also known for designing some tobacco factories. In 1946 he design the post-war reconstruction project for the tobacco factory of Benevento, a city in Campania (Italy) with a thriving tobacco production. His genius and his ability to organize the construction site can be seen in many found historical documents and in construction details that characterize his work. Following the closure of the tobacco factory at the beginning of the new millennium, the spaces, now State-owned, have long been unused and subject to incessant degradation. The plant, of about 13,000 square meters, consists of a long stick with three pavilions joined to form two courtyards, enclosed by buildings of offices. This paper examines the issue of recovery of abandoned industrial buildings, starting with an analysis of the peculiarities and problems of the area. Through the conservation of the architectural and building characters, the aim is the enhancement of the spaces in order to make them accessible to the community and to start a process of urban regeneration. The design concept proposes the setting up of a Cultural Center for the Promotion of Agricultural Products and Handicrafts of Sannio, in order to integrate functions currently lacking in the territory and to promote the consistent culinary heritage of the province. The proposal is also checked from the point of view of economic sustainability with a methodology focused on project financing which shows the full feasibility of the intervention.