Category: Modern Italy

I was kneeling in the dust of a crumbling courtyard near Syracuse last autumn, my fingers tracing the uneven seam where a reused Roman block met a medieval limestone lintel, when I realized how much we get wrong about this…

I was standing in a dusty courtyard in San Cataldo last Tuesday, running my hand over a seam where the new concrete met the old stone, when it hit me how much we get wrong. Most theorists treat Aldo Rossi…

I was standing in a damp basement in Ravenna last Tuesday, watching a contractor try to force a modern, Portland cement-based grout into a sixteenth-century masonry gap. It was painful to watch. There is this pervasive, expensive myth in our…

I remember standing in the courtyard of the Castelvecchio last autumn, my fingers tracing the grit of a sixteenth-century lime mortar that was slowly weeping under the weight of a modern steel intervention. Most critics will spend hours prattling on…

I was standing in the Querini Stampalia last Tuesday, my flashlight tracing the edge of a brass inlay, when I realized how much people misinterpret him. Most architectural critics treat the relationship between Carlo Scarpa and detail as if it…

I remember standing in the shadow of a massive concrete cantilever during a site survey in the late nineties, the air thick with the smell of wet dust and ozone. Most people look up at these massive shells and see…

I remember standing in a dusty site office outside Syracuse, staring at a cracked, peeling slab that a contractor had insisted was “cutting-edge” engineering. He spoke about the miracle of modern materials, but all I could see were the tell-tale…

I remember standing in the shadow of the Palazzetto dello Sport in Rome, my fingers tracing the rhythmic, sweeping curves of the precast ribs. Most people stand there and marvel at the aesthetic grace of the structure, treating it like…

I was standing in the shadow of the Porta Nuova last autumn, squinting against the Milanese drizzle, when I realized how much people get wrong when they talk about the Pirelli Tower and structure. Most critics treat it like some…

I was standing in a drafty palazzo near Ravenna last autumn, staring at a structural junction that felt more like a heavy-handed argument than a piece of architecture. I kept hearing people drone on about the “ethereal spirit” of mid-century…