U Destru is the macro district that occupies a large part of the slope that descends from the ridge (Corso Umberto I) towards the small river Provvidenza. The toponym does not refer to the right side of the town facing the sea, but to the part of the town that is always exposed to the great gift of the regenerating warmth of the sun in all four seasons of the year.
Located on a less resistant terrain, it is more vulnerable to the risk of urban instability due to adverse weather conditions, as happened with the flood of October 1951.
Today there are only a few people living there, but in the past the neighbourhood was densely populated. Perhaps due to the sun, which generally encourages relaxation, rest and a bit of laziness, the people of Destru were typically involved in lighter activities than the daily use of the heavy hoe. Farmers still predominated there, as they did in most of the city, but they preferred lighter agricultural activities. There were many craftsmen, surpassed only by via Vittorio Emanuele III, where, in a few hundred metres from the Arco del Girone to the church of San Nicola, there were four carpenters, two coopers, a shoemaker, a blacksmith and a tinsmith. In the neighbourhood there was a Badolato craftswoman who transformed silk cocoons into thread for weaving.
Today, U Destru is slowly and painstakingly being repopulated by people from outside, who come to buy even the most dilapidated houses, restore them and live there, some temporarily, others permanently.
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