[...]... to the next to dismantle the often artificial divisions by style or century This study is initiated with Piranesi’s exploration of the fertile potential of the interpretation of the past Later, neoclassical architects developed these ideas in a wide variety of buildings across a peninsula still politically divided and variously inflected in diverse local traditions .The experience of Napoleonic rule in... reading of the evolution of its architecture 11 the architecture of modern italy 12 The Architecture of Modern Italy surveys the period from the late baroque period in the mid-eighteenth century down to the Holy Year 2000 Its linear narrative structure aligns Italy s modern architectural culture for the first time in a chronological continuum The timeline is articulated by the rhythms of major political... intuitive and profound understanding of the implications of the Pantheon’s supposed “errors,” Piranesi may have been the only one to approach without prejudice the Pantheon in all its complexity and contradiction The polemical progress of contemporary architectural design in the context of the Pantheon exemplifies the growing difficulties at this moment of reconciling creativity and innovation with the. .. and tradition History takes on a weight and gains a life of its own The polemic over adding to the Pantheon reveals a moment of transition from an earlier period of an innate, more fluid sense of continuity with the past to a period of shifting and uncertain relationship in the present .The process of redefining the interaction of the present to the past, of contemporary creativity in an historical context,... historical context, is the core of the problem of modern architecture in Italy and the guiding theme of this study the challenge of tradition, 1750–1900 1.3 Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Pantheon, design for the attic, 1756 the architecture of modern italy rome of the nolli plan 20 The complex layering found at the Pantheon was merely an example of the vast palimpsest that is Rome itself, and there is no better... significant transformation in architectural ideas at this moment in the mideighteenth century .The Trevi is a culmination of a grand cultural 27 the architecture of modern italy tradition in Roman architecture and yet subtly innovative in its Enlightenment philosophical implications .The Trevi Fountain was the most widely influential modern construction in its day, emulated by architects across Europe It... regional entities in a political whole for the first time since antiquity .The architecture and the traditions it drew upon provided images and rallying points, figures to concretize the collective ideal Far from a degradation of tradition—as superficial treatments of the period after the baroque propose Italy s architectural culture reached a zenith of expressive power in the service of this new nation... relying expressly on the wealth of its historical memory Elsewhere in Europe, the tenets of a modern functionalism were being defined, tenets that are still used rather indiscriminately and unsuccessfully to evaluate the modern architecture of Italy .The classical tradition, now doubly enriched for modern times by the contributions of the intervening Renaissance, vied in Italy with forces of international... still today an almost fanatical fascination among all who encounter it 28 luigi vanvitelli and the reggia at caserta Clement XII’s consolation prize of the Trevi Fountain commission to Salvi was coupled with another commission to the second runner-up in the Lateran competition, Luigi Vanvitelli.Vanvitelli was the son of a Dutch landscape painter working in Italy, Gaspar Van Wittel, who Italianized his... Luigi trained like many in his day in scenography yet found employ in civil engineering His participation in the competition for the facade of the Lateran assured his reputation although the bulk of his work continued to be in rather utilitarian tasks He built the bastions and quarantine hospital in the pope’s Adriatic port of Ancona, his consolation prize, and reorganized Michelangelo’s Church of . intervening Renaissance, vied in Italy with forces of international modernism in a dynamic balance of political and aesthetic concerns. An understanding of the transformation of the Italian tradition. traditions within the context of the modern Italian political state, an evaluation that bears upon a reading of the evolution of its architecture. 11 The Architecture of Modern Italy surveys the. architecture in Italy and the guiding theme of this study. 18 the architecture of modern italy the challenge of tradition, 1750–1900 1.3 Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Pantheon, design for the attic, 1756