Italian media have reported that Leonardo Benevolo, one of Italy's foremost architects, critics, and historians, passed away yesterday at his home in Brescia following a long illness. Benevolo was an enormously influential figure in the field of architectural history who was continuously examining the problems and possibilities of our cities.
Benevolo's prolific career as an educator occurred alongside projects that he also designed and built, including the new headquarters of the Bologna Fair (realized with Thomas Jura Longo and Carlo Pomegranates), the master plan of Ascoli Piceno, the masterplan of the historic center of Bologna and the master plan of Monza (1993-97).
Italian newspaper Corriere Della Serra wrote that Benevolo joined Giulio Carlo Argan, Bruno Zevi and Manfredo Tafuri in the scholarly task of defining and historicizing modern architecture in Italy and beyond. His final publication, Il tracollo della urbanistica italiana, published by Laterza, was released in 2012.
But this greater scholarly attention has also revealed the difficulties that Brasini faced in his practice, particularly in the project for the basilica. Extensive documentation reveals the painful construction history of the church, along with the birth of the Parioli quarter that surrounds it and accompanied its growth for almost half a century. The story unfolds in the interweaving of the professional biography of Brasini and the activity of the Claretian order, as documented primarily in the Central State Archives in Rome (now containing the private archive of the architect) and the archives of the order.
For us today, the basilica constitutes a valid example of modern classical architecture: neither an arid academic exercise nor a transcription of earlier styles, but an authentic and inventive expression that shows how the historic tradition remains capable of new artistic forms in the hands of a visionary talent like Armando Brasini. That he continues to be disregarded by architectural historians and critics is a circumstance in need of correction.
Steven W. Semes is Professor of Architecture and Director of the Michael Christopher Duda Center for Preservation, Resilience, and Sustainability at the University of Notre Dame. He is translator and co-editor of New Building in Old Cities: Writings by Gustavo Giovannoni on Architectural and Urban Conservation (2024) and author of The Future of the Past: A Conservation Ethic for Architecture, Urbanism, and Historic Preservation (2009) and The Architecture of the Classical Interior (2004). cc7c31b456 garrfeliu
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