L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 6 Sole exceptions were a few pioneering projects promoted by the House of Bourbon – Two Sicilies, reigning, between 1815 and 1860, over the southern part of mainland Italy and the island of Sicily. Those futuristic protoindustri- al entities were the silk produc- tion site of San Leucio (hamlet o f C a s e r t a , i n C a m p a n i a ) , – whose complex, since 1997, has been included in the UNESCO W o r l d H e r i t a g e s i t e s l i s t – Pietrarsa (between the cities of Naples, Portici, and San Giorgio a Cremano) – where, starting from 1842, steam machines for ships and boilers for locomotives w e r e b u i l t – a n d t h e R o y a l Dockyard in Castellammare di Stabia (on the Bay of Naples) – the oldest shipyard in modern terms, established in 1783 by Sir John Acton, Prime Minister of Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples. After the Italian unification, officially declared on March 17, 1861, despite an emerging amal- gamation of the cotton industry with factories, there was not a real industrialization of Italy prior to 1870-80. At first, in the early twentieth century, Italian furniture design- ers strived to reach a balance between classical elegance and modern creativity. Eminent fig- ures, such as designer Vittorio Ducrot and architect Ernesto B a s i l e , l e d a r e v o l u t i o n i n Palermo (Sicily's capital) in the wake of Art Nouveau. Afterwards, Italy's interior design in the 1910s and 1920s, was still highly influenced by French Art Deco, a pastiche of various styles featuring exotic materials, such as ebony and ivory, and exquisite craftsman- ship. Patronized by the incipient fascist party, calling for a post- WWI "return to order," Italy's artistic movement Novecento Italiano – founded by Anselmo Bucci, Leonardo Dudreville, A c h i l l e F u n i , G i a n E m i l i o M a l e r b a , P i e t r o M a r u s s i g , Ubaldo Oppi, and Mario Sironi - was officially launched in 1923 at an exhibition in Milan, with Mussolini as one of the speakers. Milan-born architect/designer Gio Ponti, together with archi- tect Emilio Lancia, were inspired by the new artistic current and designed interior decors, called D o m u s N o v a ( 1 9 2 8 - 2 9 ) , f o r M i l a n ' s u p s c a l e d e p a r t m e n t store, La Rinascente. Milan became the utmost cen- ter of Italy's design, reaching its apex in the period after World W a r I I . T h e P o l y t e c h n i c University of Milan, since its foundation in 1863, has been playing a pivotal role in teaching design to generations of design- ers. The evolution of design was favored by Milanese specialized magazines, like Domus (1928) and La Casa Bella (1928, then renamed Casabella since '33), and prestigious exhibition facili- t i e s . A b o v e a l l o t h e r s , t h e Palazzo dell'Arte by architect G i o v a n n i M u z i o b e c a m e t h e Triennale di Milano's headquar- ters. From the 20's to the 40's, Architettura razionale (Rational Architecture) presented a middle ground between the Novecento Italiano's classicism and the industrially inspired Futurist architecture. According to such manifesto, in 1926, a group of seven young architects – Luigi Figini, Guido Frette, Sebastiano Larco, Giuseppe Pagano, Gino P o l l i n i , C a r l o E n r i c o R a v a , Giuseppe Terragni and Ubaldo Castagnoli (replaced the follow- ing year by Adalberto Libera) – founded the so-called Gruppo 7, based in Milan and Como. Rationalists created refined o b j e c t s t h a t a n t i c i p a t e d r e a l " i n d u s t r i a l d e s i g n . " P i e t r o Chiesa projected - in collabora- tion with above mentioned Gio Ponti - the "Luminator" (1936), Italy's first indirect light lamp, that is to say a lamp created by upwards reflection. I n 1 9 4 8 , t h e M o v i m e n t o d ' a r t e c o n c r e t a ( M A C , A r t Concrete Movement) was found- ed in Milan by Atanasio Soldati, Gillo Dorfles, Bruno Munari, Gianni Monnet. They called for a form of abstract/geometric art, totally cerebral and independent from the exterior. The Italian design excitement and experimentation reached its c l i m a x i n t h e 6 0 ' s . M i l a n ' s Salone Internazionale del Mobile ( M i l a n F u r n i t u r e F a i r ) w a s launched in 1961, originally focusing on Italian furniture, but soon turned into the largest trade fair showcasing the latest in fur- niture and design from around the world. Both national and internation- al market demand for the "Made in Italy" was rapidly increasing. Particularly, Massimo and Lella Vignelli were highly successful in the US as representatives of the purer Italian design. In late 60's, a new rationalist movement in Italy, known as the Tendenza, emerged in architec- ture, claiming inspiration from both the Enlightenment and ear- lier rationalists from the first half of the 1900s. Followers included Carlo Aymonino, Aldo Rossi, and Giorgio Grassi. S i m u l t a n e o u s l y , R a d i c a l Design split up in two opposite tendencies. Archizoom Associati - a design studio founded in Florence in 66 – theorized to get away from tradition, by over- turning conventions and glorify- ing everything kitsch as a state- ment of aesthetic and ideological c h a l l e n g e . O n t h e c o n t r a r y , Superstudio – an architecture firm opened in Florence in the s a m e y e a r – p r e a c h e d a n e w architecture to be based on refus- ing the dictates of production in favor of symbolic, dreamy val- ues, which can ideologically fit into the landscape. In the second half of the 70's, the post-modern (or neo-mod- ern) became the most significant movement in Italy. This revolu- tionary line of thought emerged t h a n k s t o A l c h y m i a g r o u p , founded in 1976 by Alessandro Guerriero, who theorized how to get to the essence of the objects, creator and created must inform each other. In the early 80's the experi- ence, extremely provocative and kitsch, of the Memphis group, f o u n d e d i n t h e a p a r t m e n t o f Ettore Sottsass, represents the last episode of greatest experi- m e n t a l f r e e d o m o f M i l a n e s e twentieth-century design. Today, a new generation of eco-friendly Italian designers, such as Lorenzo Damiani, and architects, like Stefano Boeri, with their innovative projects, have introduced the concept of sustainability into the equation. A rooftop racetrack: The Fiat Lingotto factory in Turin, Italy. Credit: Fiat Group Italian Design: a history of excellence NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS Continued from page 1 Echo-friendly architecture - Bosco verticale buildings in Milan by architect Stefano Boeri - photo by peus

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