Discourse on the Italian architecture with Raul Nieto

Today we travel faraway. We’ll go to the city of Mexico to coast with Raul over the architectural marvels of Italy. What brings us together is our admiration for the “bel paese” , the stay in Italy and the interest for art and architecture. Mine stays at the lowest level, amateur, but he is an architect and an art conservator. He has lived four months in Italy to attend an art restoration course. Italy has enchanted him so much to make him divide his life in before and after that trip. Among the regions that fascinated him, he makes a list with Abruzzo, Molise and Puglia. He describes me astonished the noble people, devoted to work, the mountains and the countryside.

1)Which are the characteristics of the Italian architecture?

It’s not easy to explain the characteristics of the Italian architecture in general. Even the architecture for which Italy is mostly known, corresponds now to historic periods earlier than the constitution of Italy as a republic.   Each style has reached its target for the certain era. Etruscan, Roman, early Christian, Romanesque, Renaissance, Baroque, of the Risorgimento(XIX secolo), Fascist and contemporary architecture, to mention a few of the most significant ones, each one has characteristics that identify it and make it stand out in the course of history.

2)Is there a special bond between the environment and architecture? Obviously you’ll tell me, but I’m trying to understand this connection.

In my opinion, each of these periods mentioned above required many physical and material resources. The quantity of the wood used means disappearance of the forests and the generation of heat in the atmosphere from furnaces of bricks and wrought iron don’t actually nurture a relationship of respect with the environment I am afraid.

3)You know that Italy is among the most famous and favourite destinations. Does architecture, in your opinion, contribute to this preference and why?

Certainly because architecture is the physical outcome of an immaterial asset which comes from people, it is culture. Let’s remind ourselves that Italy alone, unites one third of the entire culture of Europe. It is the architecture of almost three millenniums and the cradle of the western civilization, it is positively important. The long list of important architectural sites and historic locations definitely attracts the interest and generates tourist traffic.

4)From an architectural point of view, which building, monument, thermal baths, stadium, church etc. do you admire most and why?

For me  Agrippa’s “pantheon” is the absolute. It is almost two thousand years and it was built at the behest of emperor Adriano, to have a lightweight dome 43 meters long and 43 meters high, skillfully illuminated by an eye of diameter 9 meters.  Nevertheless, the complexity of Tito’s Colosseum  is also worthy of our attention.

At the moment Raul works in the riconstruction of some historic arches collapsed during the 2017 earthquake and organizes his next trip to Italy.

Muchas gracias Raul!

photos:1)handluggageonly.co.uk

2)55.autosto.club