The Graduate Program in Historic Preservation welcomes lecturer Andrea Pane, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Architectural Conservation, University of Naples Federico II. Dr. Pane teaches the undergraduate Department of Architecture course Theory and History of Restoration and the specialization course Conservation of Architectural Surfaces in the School of Specialization in Architectural and Environmental Heritage. He has lectured at numerous conferences in Italy and internationally and was an invited lecturer for ICOMOS Ireland (2010), for University of Cergy-Pontoise, France (2014) and for CICOP and ICOMOS Brasil (2014).
Dr. Pane's lecture "Gustavo Giovannoni: A Comprehensive Vision of Urban Heritage" will focus on the leading role played by Giovannoni in defining an original strategy for the protection and the enhancement of the urban heritage in Italy in the first decades of 20th century. Giovannoni will be firstly introduced highlighting his training as an engineer, a hygienist and an art historian in order to understand his will to aim to a comprehensive vision of these topics. A brief description of his career will introduce his first statements and plans of the 1910s, when he outlined the theory of the diradamento (thinning out) as an alternative to the urban reclamation still widespread in the early 20th century.
Afterwards the theoretical approach of Giovannoni will be compared to his practical experiences as a planner and expert in urban conservation. The plans for Rome, Naples, Bari vecchia, Bergamo alta will be illustrated as significant examples of Giovannoni’s approach in relation to the political situation of fascist Italy. This will also address the compromises and the contradictions that affected his work between the 1920s and 1930s, belying the originality and complexity of his theories.
A specific focus will be dedicated to the city of Naples, where a plan led by Giovannoni was drafted in 1926 but never accomplished for technical and political reasons. However the influence of Giovannoni in Naples was great in the 1930s and the following plan of 1939, led by one of his best pupils, Luigi Piccinato, can be looked at as a good result in urban conservation if compared to the contemporary practices of urban reclamation carried on in Italy.
The final part of the lecture will deal with the legacy of Giovannoni’s work in the changing policies of the postwar reconstruction in Italy. The historiographical misfortune of his theories will be highlighted, pointing out the main reasons for the long oblivion of his figure and his work. Finally, the topicality of his theories will be demonstrated through the illustration of recent examples of conservation plans in Italy which seem to inherit the best part of his approach to urban heritage.