The open area above the former Ginnasio building, in the Belvedere district, known as the "ex palestra" (former gymnasium) because pupils had their physical education lessons there, belonged in the seventeenth century to the Poor Clares, who had bought it in 1639 together with the ruined Palazzo Caracciolo (which stood where the S. Tarcisio complex is today).
The nuns later resold the palace and the land to the Mazza family, and from then on the plot was known as the "Orto di Mazza". In the early nineteenth century a small cluster of houses grew up around it, known as "'a Ruga 'i Mazza".
The Park of the former Gymnasium
The park of the former gymnasium is today a precious survivor of those historic "orti" that were once so numerous: gardens and open areas, planted and cultivated, with their own irrigation systems, often terraced and enclosed by walls, which dotted the historic urban landscape of Nicastro like small oases, sitting harmoniously between the built-up areas they were connected to. Today these places are hard to recognise, because of overgrown vegetation, neglect and the marks of time.
In the case of the ex Palestra, however, grassroots work by associations and residents has made it possible to regenerate an area which, although it had undergone initial works by the Municipal Administration, had in practice been inaccessible following the collapse of a house in 2015.
In recent years the work of the association Icica aps has enabled residents of the district and all citizens to reclaim a community space and to experience new cultural events and moments of encounter in this place.