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An important driver of postmodernism in Italy has been lost following the death of Italian architect, theorist, and historian Paolo Portoghesi in his native country this week at the age of 91. The author of the 2000 title Nature and Architecture enjoyed a long and influential academic career in... View full entry
Controversy stirred at the Venice Architecture Biennale after Italian government officials refused visas to three key Ghanaian curators who had planned on entering the country to attend the exhibition ahead of its opening on Saturday, May 20. On May 19, The Art Newspaper's Tom Seymour reported on... View full entry
A new exhibition titled Zero Gravity Urbanism—Principles for a New Livability will explore the conceptual underpinnings behind Saudi Arabia’s contentious NEOM megadevelopment parallel with the start of the 2023 Venice Biennale on May 20th. Featuring contributions from Morphosis, Peter... View full entry
The work has been about creating a dialogue between the 18th century and modernity. This theater was born as a space to create dreams, illusions, adventures. It’s still a place of collective imagination. But to effectively make it work today, it needed to be much more flexible and capable than what existed in the 1700s. It had run out of space to perform effectively. We’ve created a series of elements designed to make the theater function for the 2000s. — The New York Times
The Swiss architect began his two-phase restoration in January 2002. It has been the subject of controversy since that time, owing to its scale and derivation from the city council tender approvals process. The project highlights the delicate line between preservation and the ambits of a figure... View full entry
A team comprising Carlo Ratti Associati, Italo Rota, Eni, and Blob Factory Gaming have presented an installation at Milan Design Week which transformed Milan’s Botanical Garden into a 37,000-square-foot interactive game. Titled ‘Walk the Talk,’ the board game saw over 400 energy-harvesting... View full entry
The lead-up to this year's Milan Design Week festival will include a new installation from Ma Yansong and Andrea D’Antrassi of MAD Architects as part of the INTERNI Design Re-Evolution exhibition held at the University of Milan. Titled MOMENTUM, the 8-by-12.5-meter iron cube structure is tilted... View full entry
After World War II, prompted by the Allies, Germany underwent an intense de-Nazification program. Not so Italy — there was no equivalent de-fascistization. The country is still filled with buildings and street names that evoke its 20-year dictatorship.
By not challenging the history of these monuments, the memory of fascism has been smoothly integrated into the Italian present.
— NPR
There are at least 1,400 monuments to the Fascist Mussolini regime spread throughout the country. The era's architectural legacy will, in lieu of full-blown removal, be placed in context according to the hopes of local historians and preservationists who say they want to fight back against the... View full entry
Lanfranco Cirillo, an Italian art collector who designed a mysterious 18,000 sq. m Black Sea mansion supposedly built for the Russian President Vladimir Putin, will be tried in absentia by an Italian court on financial charges next month. In an interview published by the ANSA news agency on Friday, the architect said that he currently resides in Moscow and claimed that an Interpol Red Notice effectively prevents him from returning to Italy to defend his name. — The Art Newspaper
As reported by The Art Newspaper, Cirillo is being investigated for an array of crimes, including fraudulent tax returns, money laundering, the illegal transfer of funds, and for violating the code of protection of cultural heritage. Last year, Italian officials raided Cirillo’s villa near... View full entry
Results from the Leaning Tower of Pisa’s annual checkup are in, as of November 30. After a stabilization project, begun in 1990, reduced the quirky monument’s dangerous lean by a full 15 inches, the tower has straightened itself out by an additional 1.6 inches since 2001.
Some Italian officials are taking that optimism further, claiming the Tower could stand all the way straight on its own some day.
— Artnet News
This is the second update to the engineering project since 2018. The tower is expected to last at least another 300 years. In a statement to the press, the Italian heritage group Opera Primaziale Pisana said the nearly 850-year-old monument's overall health was "excellent." Repeated... View full entry
This post is brought to you by Ceramics of Italy What began as a joint venture between Confindustria Ceramica and the Italian Trade Agency in 1994 to celebrate the work of North American architects and designers using Italian ceramic tile has evolved into a 30-year survey of the built... View full entry
UK-based studio VATRAA has created a monument in Milan, Italy composed of thousands of plastic water bottles. The installation, titled Plastic Monument, seeks to bring attention to the issue of plastic pollution. “Some plastics last up to 1000 years in our landfills and oceans while others might... View full entry
The real value of one of the world’s most well-recognized historic sites is now officially set after the global financial consultancy Deloitte published their assessment of Rome’s ancient Colosseum on Monday. According to Deloitte, the nearly 2,000-year-old Flavian amphitheater is worth... View full entry
A trial has opened in the Italian city of Genoa over the collapse of the Morandi Bridge. A total of 59 people are facing charges over the collapse, which killed 43 people on August 14th, 2018. As reported by Reuters, the defendants are facing a range of charges from manslaughter to making false... View full entry
Lanfranco Cirillo, the designer of a mysterious 18,000 sq. m mansion on the Black Sea that many believe was built for the Russian President Vladimir Putin, is being investigated by the Italian authorities for allegedly failing to pay a €50m tax bill. Officials raided the 63-year-old Italian architect’s own sizeable villa in February, where they discovered and confiscated a treasure trove of works by artists including Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, [and] Wassily Kandinsky. — The Art Newspaper
The architect’s private helicopter was also confiscated by Italian authorities, who have been on a tear as of late, seizing yachts and other luxury items from Russian nationals associated with President Vladimir Putin. Cirillo is well known as the man behind the biggest gem in Putin’s... View full entry
Cathedrals, churches and basilicas across Italy are at risk of being razed by earthquakes that could strike at any moment. But the government is on a mission to protect some of the country’s most significant and vulnerable religious buildings from disastrous seismic shocks. A new national project backed with €250m from Italy’s multibillion-euro pot of EU Covid-19 recovery funding is unprecedented in Europe for its scale and reach, officials believe. — The Art Newspaper
In one of Europe’s most earthquake-prone countries, the anti-seismic plan will allow the Italian culture ministry’s heritage safety department to distribute resources around the country that will mitigate the impact of future disasters. Straps and chains will be wrapped around bell towers... View full entry