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 Italy while simultaneously working to complete several important religious and cultural commissions such as the Mosque of Rome, Strasbourg Mosque, Casa Baldi, and Theatre of Cagliari as an architect following his graduation from the Sapienza University of Rome in 1957.

Portoghesi also served as President of the Venice Biennale from 1979 to1992 and was a notable participant in the Documenta 5 exhibition and other key artistic exhibitions across Europe during the same time period. His teaching career began the previous decade at his alma mater, where his renowned expertise in Baroque architecture was further enabled via a collaborative relationship with his friend and mentor, Bruno Zevi. 

Together, the pair would go on to contribute significantly to the intellectual discourse of Italian architecture, blending the classical with the modern in a yet-unfamiliar pattern whose later influence can today be seen in the works of David Chipperfield, Peter Barber, and a host of other first-name architectural designers. Portoghesi became dean of the Politecnico di Milano's Faculty of Architecture in 1968, bolstering an impressive curriculum vitae of other leadership positions that included a tenure as the editor-in-chief of Controspazio that lasted from 1969 to 1983.

“I’m an iconologist architect, and I always try to express meaning, which is perhaps not immediately recognizable, but in one way or another, it reaches the final user,” Portoghesi described in an interview to Domus that was published in February of this year. 

Portoghesi was also inducted into France’s Legion d'Honneur in 1985 and later appointed as a Knight of the Grand Cross of the Italian Republic in 2002. He was reportedly working on a book of aesthetics at the time of his death and passed away peacefully at his seaside home in Calcata.