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Italian Architecture Through the Ages: An Eight Part Course with Dr. Luca Orlandi

Italian Architecture Through the Ages: An Eight Part Course with Dr. Luca Orlandi


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Can't make this time? A video recording will be sent to all participants after each event.

This course addresses the most significant chapters of Italian architecture and has been thoughtfully designed to provide participants with a concise overview of the styles and movements that dominated the architectural scene in Italy through the ages. Building upon a general overview of theoretical problems and perspectives emerging in the shaping of Italian Architecture, the course will dedicate close attention to the study of landmarks and critical issues that exemplify the specific characteristics of the Italian architectural panorama throughout six centuries – between the Renaissance period and the beginnings of the 21th-century (1400-2000 AD). 

Led by an Architectural Historian, Luca Orlandi, this course will zoom in on the Italian architectural panorama from the 15th to the 21st century, from the “Rinascimento” to “la Dolce Vita”, focusing on the main protagonists and movements that have characterized each period. Intended to inform curiosity as well as future travels, participants will come away with increased knowledge about the richness, complexity, and controversial development of architecture in Italy over the last 600 years. 

Lecture One: Cradle of the Renaissance culture
Our first session will examine the rebirth of the classical world – through Humanism, Renaissance, and Mannerism in the period between late 14th and 16th century. Analyzing the geo-political context of Italy in those centuries, we will see how the protagonists of one of the most creative peak in human history, such as architects and patrons contributed to the uniqueness of the Italian architectural and urban panorama all over two hundred years and how its impact spread all across Europe in the following centuries.

Lecture Two: A Sense of Infinity
Our second conversation will review the popularity of the Baroque movement, expression of the power of the Catholic Counter- Reform, in which extravagant palaces and gardens spread across the Italian peninsula. As happened with the Renaissance, Italian architects and a brilliant patronage, especially that of the popes, were once again able to renew themselves and create a new style, the Baroque, capable of surprising and becoming the new 'fashion' through the 17th century.

Lecture Three: The Enlightenment Period and  Neoclassicism
From there we move into the rise in popularity of the classics – when popular architectural fashions began to reinvent and re-examine the past, inspiring sculptures and shapes. The The discovery of the classical past, the birth of disciplines such as Archaeology and restoration, the Antiquities’ collectors and the ‘Grand Tour’ in Italy done by prominent scholars and travelers will emphasize the richness of Italian Neoclassicism and its protagonists.

Lecture Four: The Age of the Machines and the Revival Movements

Together we will discuss the Industrial Revolution's impact on the fields of Architecture and Engineering. We'll study Orientalism and Revivalism movements, the Romantic vision, and leading architects who were searching for new frontiers to explore. In this period of inventions and technological innovations, engineers and architects left their remarkable signs through masterpieces of architecture, in which technics were magnificently blended with art expression and beauty.

Lecture Five: Art Nouveau and late Eclecticism
On the eve of World War I, a brand new style of thinking emerged. Between 1890 and 1910, the organic lines reemerged in designs across the continent as everyone took steps towards a modern world. Our fifth conversation in this course will closely examine several masterpieces in the Art Nouveau architectural style across the country, emphasizing similarities with their counterpart abroad and underlining the peculiarity of the ‘Stile Floreale’ in Italy.

Lecture Six: The Futurism and the Modernist Movements
Post-war, there was a sense of domineering form and function, unlike anything the world had ever seen. The session of our course will explore the avant-gardes who used glass, steel, and reinforced concrete to pave the way into the 20th-century. We will consider the birth of art and architectural movements such as Futurism and Novecento Style, its protagonists and its reflections in Italian society during the first decades of the 20th century and World War I. Moreover, the seminar will focus on the architectural panorama of Italy during the fascist regime and its implications, from social and political point of view, from the rise of fascism in 1922 until the end of World War 2 in 1945.

Lecture Seven: Architecture of the Economic ‘Boom’ in the 1950s and 1960s
The lecture will deal with the reconstruction and the economic reprise of Italy in the second Postwar and the architectural tendencies of that time related to the growth of International Style influences by the most prominent world architects and the rediscovery of Regionalism as an answer to keep the traditions alive. Besides presenting the protagonists of such an incredible period, such as architects, engineers, designers, artists, city planners, and prominent intellectuals, this seminar will consider the deep relation between art and architecture and the formation of Italian culture in those years.

Lecture Eight: The Post Modernism and the latest trends in Italian architecture
The last part of this seminar is intended to give an overview of the architectural trends developed in Italy in the 1970s and onward. Through examples left by well-known architects, in this lecture, the differences in tendencies and thought will be analyzed in-depth, showing how the Italian architectural culture in these last decades of the 20th century was able to cross borders and spread all over the world by bringing fresh and new ideas to the field of architecture.

Luca Orlandi is an architect and an architectural historian. He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at University of Genoa (Italy) and obtained a PhD in 2005 from the Polytechnics of Turin (Italy), within the program: History and Critics of the Architectural and Environmental Heritage. He lives in Istanbul and works as Assistant Professor Dr. in the Faculty of Architecture and Design at Özyeğin University (OZU). He teaches courses such as: History of Architecture, Contemporary Architecture, and Architectural Design Studio. He often participates in lectures, seminars, and workshops in other Turkish universities and abroad, mainly in Italy. He is an active member of ICOMOS Italy and his fields of interest cover several topics like Ottoman Architecture and Master Sinan, Contemporary Turkish Architecture, as well as Genoese Heritage in the Orient and Travelogue and Narratives about the Levant.

How does it work?
This is an eight-part series held weekly and hosted on Zoom. Please check the schedule for the specific dates and times for each lecture.
Is there a reading list in advance?
Though the course is open to participants with no background on this topic, there are suggested readings for further investigation. These will be provided at the course's conclusion. 
How long are the lectures?
Each lecture is 60 minutes long with time for Q&A.
How much is the course?
The course is $280 USD for eight lectures.
Is a recording available?
Yes. If you need to miss a lecture, you will be sent a recording after the event. It will be available to re-watch at leisure, until 30 days after the course's conclusion.

This conversation is suitable for all ages.

90 minutes, including a 30 minute Q&A.

Customer Reviews

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Elizabeth (Potomac, US)
Excellent survey of Italian architecture

Thank you Dr. Orlandi for an extremely well-organized and visually instructive lecture. Without overwhelming the participant, perhaps because of the beautiful visual examples, you point out key features of the architecture of each age. A wonderful lecture series!

Customer Reviews

Based on 1 review
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(1)
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E
Elizabeth (Potomac, US)
Excellent survey of Italian architecture

Thank you Dr. Orlandi for an extremely well-organized and visually instructive lecture. Without overwhelming the participant, perhaps because of the beautiful visual examples, you point out key features of the architecture of each age. A wonderful lecture series!