Thursday, May 15, 2025
Selecting just a few of Italy’s many amazing tales of restoration and revitalisation would be a conscious decision to only share a small portion of a kind of ongoing revival that many other nations find enviable. Salone began its journey in a small town, of course, and traveled through big cities like Milan and Turin before arriving at the intriguing Island of San Giorgio in Venice. They listened to the people who came up with these stories and brought them to life, all the while keeping in mind the same goal: establishing new gathering and cultural venues and bringing the past to life with incredibly modern elements and keys that allow the ancient and the modern to coexist. In any case it is all part of what Gio Ponti in his book (or, rather “collection of pieces”) Amate ‘l’Architettura (Quodlibet 2022) described as “a theatre that never closes, gigantic, pathetic and legendary, in which we move around, characters – live, natural spectators in a “real life” scene, invented yet real … architecture creates the backdrop to History, in reality, it speaks all languages.”
Palazzo senza tempo, Peccioli, MCA – Mario Cucinella Architects
Peccioli, a medieval Tuscan town, won Borgo dei Borghi 2024. Mario Cucinella Architects initiated a project to connect the town’s heritage with its future, bridging history and renewal. “Here, we were working on the redevelopment of the 15th-century building and the restructuring of a dilapidated building beneath, transforming them into a complex capable of hosting public residences and multipurpose spaces for events, exhibitions, and social occasions,” as Cucinella himself states. “The goal of our intervention, conceived in response to the Municipal Administration’s desire to enrich the heritage of this medieval Tuscan village, was to make a historic building part of contemporary life, making it dialogue with the surrounding reality and its everyday life. To give shape to this dialogue, we designed a majestic 600 m2 hanging terrace, with an overhang of around 20 metres above ground, which dominates the façade: a contemporary graft between the two historic buildings, overlooking the hilly landscape and designed to offer the community a new public square.” New viewpoints were added with roof and façade openings, bringing in natural light and connecting to the surroundings. The intervention revitalised historic buildings, offering transparency and a link to Valle dell’Era for past and future dialogue in Peccioli.
Gallerie d’Italia, Torino, AMDL CIRCLE e Michele De Lucchi
AMDL CIRCLE transformed Palazzo Turinetti’s underground rooms into a cultural space to showcase and promote photography and video art. The project revitalised the underground space, turning it into exhibition areas. These spaces offer benefits like ideal conservation conditions and energy efficiency. Access the museum via a grand staircase in the courtyard, also used for events and socializing. The Luserna stone steps offer seating to mingle, join talks, and appreciate art. The courtyard, once private, now serves as a museum entrance and a public square connecting streets via a wooden colonnade mirroring the stone portico, a bold choice emphasising authenticity.
Torre della Permanente, Milano, Park Associati
Park Associati, led by Filippo Pagliani and Michele Rossi, is renowned for redevelopment projects, winning the 2024 Architects’ Prize for the Luxottica Digital Factory retrofitting scheme. The Torre della Permanente project involved redeveloping and expanding the existing Fifties building by Castiglioni, Fratino, and Luigi. The additions were removed and efficiency improved, maintaining the original design while adding a glass-front extension inspired by Milanese skyscrapers. “It’s always a privilege to work on Milanese Modern designer buildings,” said Filippo Pagliani, Founding Partner of Park Associati. “Redevelopment and restoration have always been crucial issues for Park Associati. These are projects that call for an ability to act extremely delicately concerning the existing architecture in order not to distort the original vision. In the case of the Torre della Permanente, we have tried to maintain and enhance the formal cleanliness of the building’s lines, emphasising its compositional rigour. The intervention is a renewed challenge as regards the most important Italian twentieth-century buildings, so that they can continue to be protagonists of the contemporary urban fabric, in an awareness that the most sustainable building is the one that already exists”.
Padiglione della Santa Sede, Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, More e Moretti spa
Valentina Moretti, architect and VP of Terra Moretti, helped create the Holy See Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. The Vatican Chapels project, led by Cardinal Ravasi, features ten chapels on San Giorgio Maggiore Island. Moretti SpA used their prefabrication expertise to build two unique chapels: one in concrete by Smiljan Radic and the other in wood by Andrew Berman. The designs honor the environment by blending with the island’s landscape, enhancing it respectfully. Dr. Moretti highlights good architecture’s influence on the surrounding area by blending buildings with nature, creating chapels for reflection and exploration in a sacred wood.
Collegio di Milano, Piuarch
The project for the new Collegio di Milano residential units, winner of a competition by the Collegio Foundation, respectfully integrates with the existing building by Zanuso, maintaining its form and functions through a detailed analysis. The 50 residential units are split into two blocks, each oriented differently to maximize exposure and privacy. Units have large windows and terraces, creating a varied façade design with emphasis on natural light. The apertures vary in intensity and size depending on the interior space, with larger windows in living areas and smaller ones in circulation spaces, designed for flexibility and multi-use interactions.
Original text: Serena Scarpello
Content Courtesy: Salone Internazionale del Mobile
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Tags: Architectural restoration, Arts and culture, Community development, Cultural heritage, Historic towns, Landscape conservation, Local communities, Local traditions, Preservation, regeneration, Revitalisation, Social innovation, sustainability, sustainable tourism, Tourism development, Tradition and modernity, UNESCO heritage sites
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