Evento

Another Rome: Architecture & Urbanism in the Eternal City 1918 1942

Please join Steven W. Semes who will discuss Romes rich and fascinating architectural history of the early 20th century. While the Rome of antiquity, the Renaissance, and the Baroque has always been an inspiration to architects and town planners, the citys modern history also includes work that immediately attracts our interest but that has received less attention. While the modernist avant-garde is well known, the achievements of those who continued the classical and vernacular building traditions of Rome in the 1920s and 30s have been neglected. Post-war critics banished designers like Marcello Piacentini, Gustavo Giovannoni, Armando Brasini, and Innocenzo Sabbatini from the official history of twentieth-century architecture for stylistic, not political reasons. Now Italian scholars are presenting a more comprehensive picture of twentieth-century design in Italy, placing the traditionalists working in Rome between the World Wars not only within the context of the Italy of the time but, more importantly, within the international context of those who sought to continue inherited design traditions while adapting them to modern requirements. This talk will present an overview of architecture and urban design of great ingenuity and beauty that deserves to join the more familiar monuments of Rome in the minds and hearts of those who love classical art and architecture.