Italian Modernisms

Collana Architettura e Costruzione /6 diretta dal Prof. Sergio Poretti

The studies in this book focus on Italian twentieth-century architecture, in particular design and construction techniques. The descriptions of the worksites and building processes provide a much better and clearer picture of the different modernist styles that existed in Italy; they also reveal the ‘thin red line’ that characterised an univocal construction method: mixed masonry enriched (and not replaced) by reinforced concrete – a technique well suited to small artisanal worksites. This was a mild version of modern construction, in line with the role construction played in slowing down an industrialisation process which in Italy was, in itself, slow. Each chapter illustrates a specific aspect of the history of construction and highlights several new issues involving architecture in general: the important tectonic similarities which one way or another link the Littorio style and the several different kinds of rationalisms in the thirties; the continuity between the autarchic experimentation and the techniques used in reconstruction; the connection between the large-scale works designed by engineers and the architectures of the fifties and sixties, which now appear to be one of the mainstays of the unique Italian Style.

SERGIO PORETTI is full professor of Technical Architecture at Rome Tor Vergata University where in the early eighties he launched a research project on Construction History, in particular twentiethcentury buildings in Italy. He has participated in the restoration of several important works which are part of Italy’s modern heritage and has published, amongst others, several books on this subject: Progetti e costruzione dei palazzi delle poste a Roma 1933-1935 (1990); La Casa del fascio di Como (1998); Pier Luigi Nervi. L’Ambasciata d’Italia a Brasilia (2008). He has also curated the following books: Il Palazzo della Civiltà italiana (2001); L’Ina Casa: il cantiere e la costruzione (2002); Il restauro delle Poste di Libera (2005); Ingegneria italiana (2007); Pier Luigi Nervi. Ingegno e costruzione. Guida alla mostra (2010); Ingegneria oggi (2012). He was awarded the ERC Advanced Grant 2011 with the project: SIXXI – Twentieth Century Structural Engineering: the Italian Contribution (2012-2017).

ARCHITECTURE & CONSTRUCTION / 6
A series directed by Sergio Poretti
The series includes studies, researches, monographs, and conference proceedings about construction methods and their link with the language of architecture.
Exploration of construction issues, studies on the evolution of historical techniques, and documentation about restoration projects all help to identify less well-known aspects of construction history.

ARCHITETTURA E COSTRUZIONE / 6
collana diretta da Sergio Poretti
La collana raccoglie studi, ricerche, monografie,
atti di convegni sul modo di costruire e i suoi stretti legami con il linguaggio dell’architettura.
Ricognizioni su vicende costruttive, indagini sull’evoluzione delle tecniche storiche, documentazione di casi di restauro contribuiscono a delineare aspetti ancora poco noti della storia delle tecniche costruttive.

Books published:
1. Il restauro delle Poste di Libera
edited by Sergio Poretti
2. L’architettura INA Casa (1949-1963)
Aspetti e problemi di conservazione e recupero
edited by osalia Vittorini and Riccardo Capomolla
3. Il Padiglione dell’Artigianato a Sassari
Architettura e conservazione
edited by Stefano Gizzi and Sergio Poretti
4. Modernismi italiani
Sergio Poretti
5 La costruzione dell’architettura
Temi e opere del dopoguerra italiano
edited by Pier Giovanni Bardelli, Antonio Cottone, Franco Nuti, Sergio Poretti, Antonello Sanna
6 Italian Modernisms
Architecture and construction in the twentieth century
Sergio Poretti