
Adalberto Libera (; 16 July 1903 – 17 March 1963) was one of the most representative architects of the
Italian Modern movement.
Adalberto Libera at DARC
(Dept. of Architecture and Contemporary Art, Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage)
Biography
Adalberto Libera was born in
Villa Lagarina in the
County of Tyrol
The (Princely) County of Tyrol was an Imperial State, estate of the Holy Roman Empire established about 1140. After 1253, it was ruled by the House of Gorizia and from 1363 by the House of Habsburg. In 1804, the County of Tyrol, unified with th ...
of
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
(now in
Trentino
Trentino (), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento (; ; ), is an Autonomous province#Italy, autonomous province of Italy in the Northern Italy, country's far north. Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the Regions of Italy, region of Tren ...
) in northern Italy. He graduated from Parma's Institute of Art in 1925 and then in 1928 from Rome's ''Scuola Superiore di Architettura'' he became acquainted with Futurism through his fellow Trentino
Fortunato Depero
Fortunato Depero (30 March 1892 – 29 November 1960) was an Italian Futurism (art), futurist painter, writer, sculptor, and graphic designer.
Biography
Although born in Fondo or in the neighboring village of Malosco, according to other sou ...
. Even before graduating he was one of the founders of M.I.A.R. (Movimento Italiano per l'Architettura Razionale or “Italian Movement for Rational Architecture”) and later became its secretary. Based in Rome, MIAR was a rival organisation to Gruppo Sette, which was based in Milan and Como. He was invited by
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect, academic, and interior designer. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. He is regarded as one of the pionee ...
to the 1927 Stuttgart Exhibition (
Deutscher Werkbund
The Deutscher Werkbund (; ) is a German association of artists, architects, designers and industrialists established in 1907. The ''Werkbund'' became an important element in the development of modern architecture and industrial design, parti ...
). In 1928 and 1931 he organised the MIAR exhibitions of "Architettura Razionale" in
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
. MIAR then dissolved. He also contributed to the 1932
Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution.
An extremely able and talented creative architect more influenced by Futurism than Rationalism, he was also politically astute. His activity as founder and secretary of MIAR enabled him to establish a close working relationship with the high-up officials of the Fascist regime in Rome, where all the big decisions were taken about funding public construction programmes, and who were responsible for commissioning the hundreds of new public buildings required for Mussolini's modernisation programmes. Thanks to these connections he had a prolific career throughout the Fascist regime and designed many notable buildings during the 1930s, some of which are masterpieces of the international modern movement. One of the most important is his Palazzo dei Congressi (Palace of Congress) at the
EUR
The euro (symbol: €; currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the euro area or, more commonly, the eurozone. The euro is divided into 10 ...
in Rome. This building shows Libera's great ability to design ambiguously in a spare, metaphysical language that sits on a knife-edge between modernism and neo-classicism. His use of
sail vaults in this building creates an innovative architectural space.
He also designed
Casa Malaparte for
Curzio Malaparte
Curzio Malaparte (; born Kurt Erich Suckert; 9 June 1898 – 19 July 1957) was an Italian writer, filmmaker, war correspondent and diplomat. Malaparte is best known outside Italy due to his works '' Kaputt'' (1944) and '' The Skin'' (1949). The ...
on the island of
Capri
Capri ( , ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. A popular resort destination since the time of the Roman Republic, its natural beauty ...
(1938), although there is continuing controversy as to whether Libera himself was the main designer.
During the Fascist period, all architects were legally forced to join the party; but the most successful went further and became important party members. Like his contemporaries
Giuseppe Pagano
Giuseppe Pagano (20 August 1896 – 22 April 1945) was an Italian architect, notable for his involvement in the movement of rationalist architecture in Italy up to the end of the Second World War. He designed exhibitions, furniture and interiors ...
and
Giuseppe Terragni
Giuseppe Terragni (; 18 April 1904 – 19 July 1943) was an Italian architect who worked primarily under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini and pioneered the Italian modern movement under the rubric of Rationalism. His most famous work is the ...
, Libera's good fortune in this period was due to his close party links. After the fall of the Fascist regime and its defeat in World War II, Libera along with everyone else underwent a period of personal and professional crisis, but after living quietly for several years in his home town of Trento, he recovered and began again to work on numerous projects, including public housing and office buildings, in a new style that turned its back on Fascistic modes of expression. Many of his greatest projects are from this postwar period.
In 1954–1962 he designed and built the Regional Government building for the Trentino Region in Trento.
Main works
*
Palace of Congresses,
EUR
The euro (symbol: €; currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the euro area or, more commonly, the eurozone. The euro is divided into 10 ...
(1930s)
*
Post Office, via Marmorata, Rome (1932)
*
Casa Malaparte, Island of Capri (1938)
* Housing Units,
Cagliari
Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...
(1950–1953)
*
Cassa del Mezzogiorno, Cagliari (1953)
*
Main Cathedral, Spezia (1956–1969)
See also
*
Italian Rationalism
In architecture, Rationalism () is an architectural current which mostly developed from Italy in the 1920s and 1930s. Vitruvius had claimed in his work that architecture is a science that can be comprehended rationally. The formulation was taken ...
*
Modernism
Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
References
External links
''Adalberto Libera's "Mediterranean Climate" : from a Problem of Style to a Category of Dwelling.''by F. Garofalo in ''Environmental Design: Journal of the Islamic Environmental Design Research Centre (1990): 10-17''
Villagio Olimpico in Rome (1960)by A. Libera (with drawings and photos)
Fascismo - Architettura - Arte / Arte fascista web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Libera, Adalberto
1903 births
1963 deaths
People from Trentino
20th-century Italian architects
Italian fascist architecture