Civic towers in medieval urban landscape in Northern Italy: architectures as urban identities (original) (raw)
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Recomposition of architecture in the historical city. The San Bernardino area in Padua, Italy
The work we propose concerns the theme of the recomposition of public spaces in the ancient town when compromised by old and recent speculative interventions. The methodology looks at the city as a product of functional systems (political, social, economic), but overall contemplates the urban form as a result of its spatial structure. The life of the urban form is investigated in its physical specificity, the only one able of giving reason of its special nature over every social, economic and political aspect, certainly important but not sufficient. Our teaching at the University of Padua is based on fundamental 1960s studies about typological analysis oriented towards the theme of public spaces and establishing relationships between these ones and private spaces. The spatial aspects and formal image of the transformations in the city are studied as a premise for the design of the new architecture. The San Bernardino area in Padua is one of the subjects investigated by our students, thought as an opportunity to reconfigure the lost unity of a very symbolic and representative place of the city, custodian of its memory and identity. The San Bernardino area has been affected by rapid post Second World War reconstruction that has resulted in the organic unity with surrounding parts of the city being lost. The order and hierarchy of the elements that characterize the form of this old place has been compromised by subsequent actions of speculation operated in the second half of the twentieth century. The area, recently squalid parking space but in the past centuries reference point for the community religious life, is used as a case study in which the analysis and proposals for a new urban design concentrate.
Recomposition of public spaces in the medieval city compromised by war damage and speculative development. The working method is based on the belief that analysing the history of the city is fundamental to the study of urban morphology, clarifying the relationship between permanent structures on the one hand and temporary ones on the other. History becomes an indispensable tool with which to discover the underlying reasons for the development of the urban structure, which is an indelible reminder made in the image of the community. The methodology looks at the city as a product of functional systems (political, social, economic), but contemplates the overall urban form as a result of its spatial structure. The urban form is investigated in its physical specificity, which is the only method capable of finding the reasons for the special nature of the urban form in contrast to the social, economic, and political aspect that while certainly important, are insufficient. In fact, restoring not only a material but also a spiritual value to the city today is as indispensable as it ever has been. Consequently, a discussion can be held on the destiny of the city. The Architectural and Urban Composition 2 course at the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering of the University of Padua is based on fundamental 1960s studies about typological analysis (especially Aldo Rossi, L’architettura della città, 1966) specifically oriented towards the theme of public spaces and establishing relationships between these and private spaces. The spatial aspects and formal image of the transformations in the city are studied as a premise on which to base the design of the new architecture. One of the areas in Padua studied by the students is Piazza Duomo (Cathedral Square), used as an opportunity to reconfigure the lost unity of a very symbolic and representative place, which acts as a custodian of the history and identity of this city. Piazza Duomo has been affected by rapid post Second World War reconstruction that has resulted in the loss of the organic unity with surrounding parts of the city. The hierarchy and order of the elements that characterize the form of this old place has been compromised by speculation in the second half of the twentieth century. Piazza Duomo is now a squalid parking space but in previous centuries it was a reference point for religious life in the city. It is used as a case study with analysis and proposals for a new urban design.
In many cases in Italy the outcomes produced by building speculation in the immediate postwar period have compromised the quality of historical urban cities. This contribution reflects on the opportunity to recompose the lost unity of the public space using a method that in finding out the reasoning underlying the city, makes history an indispensable instrument within the project. In fact, the urban project originates in the need to find continuity with the history of the city from which potential and energy can be interpreted in the light of the needs of the contemporary society. Consequently, the pretext of novelty advanced by the project does not set out formal solutions to unpredictable needs, characteristic of a certain ideological radicalism in the avant-guarde isms and an old mythology of the new incarnated in the functionalism of the International Style but are fully inserted in the dialectic relationship with the traditional historic urban forms. There is no simple formal-mimetic relationship with the latter but archetypes underlie the origin of the form. In this context the method is a continuation of the best studies of typological and urban morphology analysis (especially Aldo Rossi, L'architettura della città, 1966) that not only view the city as a product of what are certainly important functional systems (social, economic, political) but above all contemplate the urban form as a result of its formal structure. The teaching at the University of Padua (Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, course of Architectural and Urban Composition 2) follows this tradition of thought that is specifically oriented to the theme of public space and its relationships with private ones, looking to the formal and spatial structure of the city as an indispensable premise to the definition of the urban project. The area of Eremitani in Padua is one of the thematic environments with which the students on the course were confronted. A symbolic place representative of the city, it lost its formal identity and unity with the other parts of the city following speculation and the urban choices that characterised the reconstruction of the building fabric damaged during the Second World War. The outcomes produced by the projects presented by the students have verified the validity of an operational method that in taking heed of the content and characteristics of the place finally finds continuity with the history of the city and its memory. Keywords: History as a tool for the project, urban analysis, community identity, memory, public space.
Recomposition of Architecture in the Historical City. Case Study of Pontemanco Village, Italy
The work concerns the theme of the recomposition of public spaces in the ancient village of Pontemanco, near Padua. The village was born around two old mills built on the sides of the Biancolino, the canal that unifies and devides the little community. The spatial aspects and formal image of the transformations in Pontemanco are studied as a premise for the design of the new architecture that completes the existing buildings. The working method is based on the belief that, in the study of urban morphology, is basic to analyse the history of the city. The history becomes an indispensable tool to know the deep reasons of the urban structure which is the memory and the image of the community. The methodology contemplates the urban form as a result of its spatial structure. The life of the urban form is investigated in its physical specificity, the only one able of giving reason of its special nature over every social, economic and political aspect, certainly important but not sufficient. Our teaching at the University of Padova (Italy) is based on fundamental 1960s studies about typological analysis. The old village of Pontemanco is one of the subjects investigated by our students, thought as an opportunity to reconfigure the lost unity of this very symbolic and representative place were the waters of the Biancolino Canal flow.
Beyond Typologies: Early Modern Italian Town Halls in Comparative Perspective (14th-17th Centuries)
Architectural Histories 12(1), pp. 1-12, 2024
By challenging the traditional, typological, approach to the history of town halls, we aim to place Italian civic architecture at the center of a cross-disciplinary study focused, on one hand, on the uses and functions of these buildings, and on the other, on their cultural and identity meanings. The papers gathered in this special collection do not present a history of architectural models and persistencies, but rather one of continuous transformations, conversions, and adaptations, shaped by the material and symbolic functions that public buildings fulfilled, and often continue to fulfill, in the places where they were built.
Recomposition of Architecture in the Historical City. Case Study of Battaglia Terme, Italy
Architecture Research (Scientific & Academic Publishing), 2014
The work we propose concerns the theme of the recomposition of public spaces in the ancient town. The working method is based on the belief that, in the study of urban morphology, is basic to analyse the history of the city. The history becomes an indispensable tool to know the deep reasons of the urban structure which is the memory and the image of the community. The methodology contemplates the urban form as a result of its spatial structure. The life of the urban form is investigated in its physical specificity, the only one able of giving reason of its special nature over every social, economic and political aspect, certainly important but not sufficient. Our teaching at the University of Padova (Italy) is based on fundamental 1960s studies about typological analysis. The spatial aspects and formal image of the transformations in the city are studied as a premise for the design of the new architecture. The old town centre of Battaglia Terme, not far from Padova, is one of the subjects investigated by our students, thought as an opportunity to reconfigure the lost unity of a very symbolic and representative place.
The history of Tuscany during the Middle Ages has been a topic of great interest for many Italian and foreign scholars since at least the beginning of the nineteenth century. Research on the subject has thrived because of this Italian region's exceptional dynamics and high level of urbanization during the XIIth to XIVth centuries, which are practically unique from the political and the economic standpoints, and because of its social structure and its cultural heritage. The paper tries to explain the reasons for the great demographic, economic and social development of Tuscan cities in the city-states age, comparing the situation of major agglomerations with the one of important towns. The text analyzes the massive increase in urban production, trade and banking at an international level, connected to the control of agricultural resources coming from cities' countryside. Attention is also paid to the civic religion, to the historical culture and to political rules of the most important communities, to show the peculiarities of the region on the eve of the Renaissance. The history of Tuscany during the Middle Ages has been a topic of great interest for many Italian and foreign scholars since at least the beginning of the nineteenth century 2. Research on the subject has thrived because of this Italian region's exceptional dynamics, which are practically unique from the political and the economic standpoints, and because of its social structure and its cultural heritage 3. Moreover, these dynamics are well described in many, particularly thirteenth-and fourteenth-century, archive documents and memorialists' accounts.