Italian Imprints on Twentieth-Century Architecture

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Italian architecture has significantly influenced architectural ideas globally, from the Beaux-Arts academy's reverence for Rome to modernist and postmodern explorations of Renaissance proportion and Baroque space. This book critically examines the privileged status of Italian architects, architecture, and cities in the past century's architectural culture. It challenges the entrenched myth of Italy's role in architectural history through case studies that highlight its powerful yet problematic position within 20th-century architectural ideologies, especially as Eurocentric narratives are questioned. The text reconciles Italy's privileged architectural legacy with the need for a more global and diverse historical perspective. Featuring twenty chapters by distinguished international scholars, it addresses a range of subjects and architects, including Alberti, Gio Ponti, Aldo Rossi, and Manfredo Tafuri, alongside cities like Rome, Venice, and Milan. Each chapter interrogates the foundations of 20th-century architecture—its canon of built, visual, textual, and conceptual works—while revealing the insecurities of those foundations. This work is essential for students and scholars of both Italian and global architectural history, offering fresh insights into Italy's architectural and urban landscape.