Italian modern and contemporary architecture
Italian modern and contemporary architecture refers to architecture in Italy during 20th and 21st centuries.
Styles
Beginning of 20th century
The Art Nouveau style was brought to Italy by figures such as Giuseppe Sommaruga and Ernesto Basile (who respectively designed the Palazzo Castiglioni and expanded the Palazzo Montecitorio in Rome). The ideas of this new style were published in 1914, in the Manifesto dell’Architettura Futurista (Manifesto of Futurist Architecture) of Antonio Sant’Elia. Rationalism found itself within the Gruppo 7 (1926), yet after the dissolution of the group, its distinguished figures Giuseppe Terragni (Casa del Fascio Como), Adalberto Libera (Villa Malaparte in Capri) and Giovanni Michelucci (Santa Maria Novella Station in Florence, in collaboration) appeared. During the Fascist period the so-called “Novecento movement” flourished, with figures such as Gio Ponti, Peter Aschieri, Giovanni Muzio. This movement was based on the rediscovery of imperial Rome. Marcello Piacentini, who was responsible for the urban transformations of several cities in Italy, and remembered for the disputed Via della Conciliazione in Rome, devised a form of “simplified Neoclassicism”.
Fascism
The period of time following the end of World War II was marked by several architectural talents such as Luigi Moretti, Carlo Scarpa, Franco Albini, Giò Ponti, Tomaso Buzzi, amongst others; talents who indeed lacked a single direction. Pier Luigi Nervi, for example, with his bold and concrete structures, acquired an international reputation and was an influence to Riccardo Morandi and Sergio Musmeci. In a season inspired by interesting debates, brought forward by critics such as Bruno Zevi, rationalism prevailed, of which the Rome Termini Station can be said to be one of its paradigmatic works. The neorealism of Michelucci (designer of numerous churches in Tuscany), Charles Aymonino, Mario Ridolfi and others (neighborhoods INA-Casa) was followed by the Neoliberty style (seen in earlier works of Vittorio Gregotti) and Brutalist architecture (Torre Velasca in Milan group BBPR, a residential building via Piagentina in Florence, Leonardo Savioli and works by Giancarlo De Carlo).
Modernism
Carlo Scarpa accomplished significant modernist projects in the Veneto and Venice. Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright did not build anything in Italy, as opposed to Alvar Aalto (Church of the Assumption in Riola, Vergato), Kenzo Tange (towers of Bologna Fair, the floor of Naples central business district (CDN)) and Oscar Niemeyer (home of Mondadori in Segrate). The Postmodern style in architecture, anticipated by Paolo Portoghesi c. 1960, can be seen in the “Teatro del Mondo” (Theatre of the World) built by Aldo Rossi for the Venice Biennale of 1980.
Rationalism also influenced modernism in Italian architecture. Particularly, this design ethos reconciled the modern aesthetic ideals with religion, since this particular motif was not inimical to the priorities of the modern Italian architects. It gave rise to the so-called secular-spirituality – an element in Italian modernism – that focuses on the concept of enlightened rationalism. Another aspect to the Italian modernism involves the diversity of interpretations with respect to how modernity is experienced. For example, the northern regions interpreted unornamented design as a rejection of culture and style.
Art Nouveau (Liberty) architecture
Art Nouveau had its main and most original exponents in Giuseppe Sommaruga and Ernesto Basile. The former was author of Palazzo Castiglioni in Milan, while the second projected an expansion of Palazzo Montecitorio in Rome.
However, in the 1920s and following years a new architectural language, razionalismo, was introduced. This form of Futurist architecture was pioneered by Antonio Sant’Elia and hence by Gruppo 7, formed in 1926. After the dissolution of the group, it was adopted by single artists like Giuseppe Terragni (Casa del Fascio, Como), Adalberto Libera (Villa Malaparte in Capri) and Giovanni Michelucci (Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station).
During the Fascist period, razionalismo was outranked by Novecento Italiano, which rejected the avant-garde themes and aimed instead to revive the art of the past. Its most important members in the field of Architecture were Gio Ponti, Pietro Aschieri and Giovanni Muzio. This movement inspired Marcello Piacentini in his creation of a “simplified Neoclassicism” linked to the rediscovery of the imperial Rome. Piacentini was author of several works in many Italian cities, the most important of which is the controversial creation of Via della Conciliazione in Rome.
Post–World War II and modernist architecture
A narrow, unornamented skyscraper with blue-green glass windows in the middle and a tapered metallic skin on the sides rising above some trees at ground level against a blue sky
Two Italian architects have received the Pritzker Architecture Prize: Aldo Rossi (1990) and Renzo Piano (1998). Some of the main architects working in Italy between the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st are Renzo Piano, Massimiliano Fuksas and Gae Aulenti. Piano’s works include Stadio San Nicola in Bari, Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, the renovation works of the Old Port of Genoa, Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church in San Giovanni Rotondo; among Fuksas’ projects (As of January 2011) are Grattacielo della Regione Piemonte (skyscraper of Piedmont Region) and Centro Congressi Italia Nuvola at EUR, Rome. Gae Aulenti’s Italian works feature the renovation works of Palazzo Grassi in Venice and the Stazione Museo (“Museum Station”) of Naples Metro.
Other remarkable figures for contemporary architecture in Italy are the Swiss Mario Botta (Museo d’arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, renovation of La Scala in Milan), Michele Valori (it:Corviale), Zaha Hadid (National Museum of the 21st Century Arts in Rome, skyscraper “Lo Storto” in Milan), Richard Meier (Jubilee Church and cover building of Ara Pacis, both in Rome), Norman Foster (Firenze Belfiore railway station), Daniel Libeskind (skyscraper “Il Curvo” in Milan) and Arata Isozaki (Palasport Olimpico in Turin, together with Pier Paolo Maggiora and Marco Brizio; skyscraper “Il Dritto” in Milan).
Post-modernism
Among the principal architects working in Italy between the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries were Renzo Piano (Stadio San Nicola in Bari, restructuring the Old Port of Genoa, Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo), Massimiliano Fuksas (skyscraper in the Piedmont Region, Convention Center in the EUR), Gae Aulenti (the Railway Museum of Naples underground), the Swiss Mario Botta (Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, restructuring of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan), Zaha Hadid (National Museum of the 21st Century Arts in Rome, skyscraper “Lo Storto” in Milan), Richard Meier (Church of God Merciful Father and the casket of the Ara Pacis, in Rome), Norman Foster (in Turin, the Campus Luigi Einaudi and in Florence, the Florence Station Belfiore), Daniel Libeskind (“Il Curvo” skyscraper in Milan) and Arata Isozaki (Palasport Olimpico in Turin, with Pier Paolo Maggiora and Marco Brizio, “Il Dritto” skyscraper in Milan).
One of the prominent features of the postmodernist architecture in Italy can be identified as a reaction to modernism and the fascist regime, which appropriated classical architectural forms and modernity. After these periods, there was an identifiable attempt to search for new design directions. Emergent works began to demonstrate atmospheres of nostalgia and memory. A group of young architects such as those who comprised the group called “La Tendenza” (e.g. Carlo Aymonino, Giorgio Grassi and Aldo Rossi) began to explore the question of memory and the glory of the Italian past, integrating their motifs in their works as physical presence and poetic content. They endeavored to expose the weaknesses of modernism, such as their critique of urbanism.
Twentieth century architecture
The Art Nouveau had in Giuseppe Sommaruga and Ernesto Basile two of the principal and most original exponents (respectively Palazzo Castiglioni in Milan, extension of Palazzo Montecitorio in Rome). A totally new language was announced with the publication in 1914 of the Manifesto of Futurist Architecture by Antonio Sant’Elia . The same published his tables of the “New Town”, proposing new architectural models that exalted functionality and a new aesthetic.
Rationalism manifested itself in Group 7 and MIAR ( 1926 ), but after the dissolution of the group emerged in the isolated figures of Giuseppe Terragni ( Casa del Fascio in Como), Adalberto Libera ( Villa Malaparte in Capri ) and Giovanni Michelucci ( station of Florence Santa Maria Novella , in collaboration). During the Fascist period the so-called ” Novecento ” ( Gio Ponti , Pietro Aschieri , Giovanni Muzio ) was most successful, from which it derived, in the wake of the rediscovery of imperial Rome, theSimplified Neoclassicism by Marcello Piacentini , author of several urban transformations in different Italian locations and remembered for the disputed Via della Conciliazione in Rome.
The second post-war period was characterized by various talents ( Luigi Moretti , Carlo Scarpa , Franco Albini , Gio Ponti, Tomaso Buzzi and others), but he lacked a unified direction. Pier Luigi Nervi , with his daring structures in reinforced concrete, acquired an international reputation and was an example for Riccardo Morandi and Sergio Musmeci . In a season animated by interesting debates carried out by critics such as Bruno Zevi , rationalism prevailed and one of the paradigmatic works found in the Rome Termini station . To the Neorealism of Michelucci,Carlo Aymonino , Mario Ridolfi and others ( INA-Casa quarters ) was followed by the Neoliberty (found in the early works of Vittorio Gregotti ) and Brutalism ( Torre Velasca of Milan of the BBPR group , a residential building in Via Piagentina in Florence, by Leonardo Savioli , works by Giancarlo De Carlo ).
Le Corbusier (project for a hospital in Venice) and Frank Lloyd Wright (project of a house on the Grand Canal , still in Venice) did not build anything in Italy, while Alvar Aalto ( church of the Assumption in Riola di Vergato ) succeeded , Kenzō Tange (towers of the Bologna Fair, floor of the Centro Direzionale in Naples ) and Oscar Niemeyer (home of the Mondadori in Segrate ).
In 1980, within the Venice Biennale , the Architecture sector was established, Paolo Portoghesi was appointed as director . On that occasion the “novissima road” set up by Costantino Dardi was set up and, commissioned by Paolo Portoghesi, Aldo Rossi created the “Theater of the World”, a floating and traveling theater that traveled through the canals of Venice. Aldo Rossi, the first Italian to win the Pritzker Prize , was undoubtedly one of the most influential Italian architects for the new generation. Rafael Moneo writes about it :
“I do not think I exaggerate by saying that already in the eighties they were marked – in Italy – by Aldo Rossi and Manfredo Tafuri and that any comment that is made around the Italian architecture of those years should be referred to them”
( Rafael Moneo , The Other Modernity: Considerations on the Future of Architecture , page 113. )
Also in 1980, the “Presence of the Past” architecture exhibition was held at the Venice Arsenal, where the major architects of the moment were considered to be post-modern, including Robert Venturi , Hans Hollein , Frank Gehry and Ricardo Bofill . In this way, Paolo Portoghesi, with a series of publications, launched the so-called postmodern architecture in Italy , connecting to other critics such as Charles Jencks and Robert Stern .
Contemporary architecture
Among the main architects active in Italy in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century are remembered Renzo Piano ( Stadio San Nicola in Bari, restructuring of the ancient port of Genoa , Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, Church of Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo etc.), Massimiliano Fuksas ( Skyscraper of the Piedmont Region , Convention Center at ‘ EUR ), Gae Aulenti ( Station Museum of the Naples metropolitan area ), Switzerland’s Mario Botta (Museum of modern and contemporary art of Trento and Rovereto , restructuring of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan), Zaha Hadid ( National Museum of the XXI Century Arts in Rome, ” Lo Storto ” skyscraper in Milan), Richard Meier ( Church of God the Father) Merciful and shrine of the Ara Pacis , in Rome), Norman Foster ( Firenze Belfiore station ), Daniel Libeskind (” Il Curvo ” skyscraper in Milan) and Arata Isozaki ( Turin Olympic Stadium , with Pier Paolo Maggioraand Marco Brizio, ” Il Dritto ” skyscraper in Milan).
Source from Wikipedia