Good architecture of small size. The narrative construction of Italian landscape.

Ref.: 201
Área temática: 03 Integridad visual de los paisajes urbanos históricos
Fecha de recepción: 23/10/2008

AUTORES (* Autor principal)

BRUZZONE, Monica * (Italia) - UNIVERSITY OF PARMA

ABSTRACT

The Italian landscape, when you move away from complex urban systems, seems to have development from two opposing values, but in fact deeply connected.
The Italian landscape is above all an artificial environment, it is built and modified by humans over time. Therefore it belongs to an historical dimension (related to the unfolding of events over time), but also to a cultural dimension (related to the stratification of different cultures). The perception of the Italian landscape, especially when you observe it from above, is totally artificial. You can just think about agricultural territories of the Po Valley, where you can still see the artificial subdivision in Centurie of Roman age, but you can think also the construction of the landscape, which, especially from the XIX Century, occurs above all in literature.
These changes in the nature of the places are nevertheless impressive transformations if you look at them like plans, but they seem to dissolve as soon as you move inside the landscape and you consider them like three-dimensional space. You can see that the architecture, settlements and small towns of this sequence of landscapes, show respect to the small size of the horizons. They follow the horizontality of the Italian countryside. While the vertical elements that mark the territory, are almost always like points, they are signs, visible from miles around, indicating the presence of man. These signs are for example the steeple of a church, the chimney of a production facility, the tower of an agricultural court and so forth.
The artificiality of landscape, the respect for small-scale of architectures, the nearly continuous presence of a network of small cities and small towns that characterize the whole of the peninsula, are characters of Italian landscape. You can read them as an important part of its cultural identity. A fragmented identity which gives the territory a homogeneous narrative dimension, and makes it skillful builder of memories of the place. With this key of interpretation, the Italian rural area, can be seen in its diversity and complexity, like an historical urban landscape.
These values have to respect the two traditions of each place: that cultural tradition - the contribution of the designer as intellectual, wise project director of architecture and city - , and popular tradition - joining the small scale of the territory, but also the wise use of traditional materials such as marble, stone and wood, used with expert craftsmanship, but thoroughly reinterpreted in a new way, from needs and languages of contemporary culture -. The identity of places as permanent value and accession to contemporary culture as the value of innovation, may be the two keys to a proposal for contemporary architecture capable not only of respecting the aura of places, their genius loci, or heritage intangible values that configures each place, but also to enhance the aura, with a positive change in the characters through new applications and new cultural contributions.

BIBLIOGRAFÍA