Re-Knowing to Re-Enable the Modern Architecture of Giuseppe Samonà

Interpreting the works of the well-known Italian architect Giuseppe Samonà, through the recognition of his stylistic, technical-constructive, and symbolic peculiarities adopted in the design of the enclosures of the repertoire produced after World War II is the contribution that is intended to provide in order to reread his intentions and identify rehabilitation practices congruent with the original quality. The simultaneously traditionalist and international culture of the protagonist, who was involved in teaching activities in several universities and in design activities at various scales throughout the country, allows to delve into a broad and geographically diffuse chronological cross-section of the modern architectural heritage: debated themes, stylistic features gradually embraced, materials employed with both constructive and formal character. The study was initiated by an aggregate of eight buildings that Giuseppe Samonà designed from the 1930s to the 1960s for Messina, experimenting for the envelopes with some of the lexicons that distinguished the history of Italian architecture in those decades, ranging from the adoption of stone cladding with thin slabs to the manifestation in façade of the load-bearing structure with brick blocks, glass-cement and glass-paste decorations. The concomitant extension of the analysis to the architect’s national repertoire made it possible to trace stylistic and constructive convergences and divergences, with the further intention of verifying influences of local technical culture, craftsmanship and industry. The in-depth study aims to support studies on the Restoration of the Modern by bringing to light an architectural heritage often having little national resonance, albeit worthy, and consequently alerting to the need to preserve it but, even before, to the necessity of recognising it as a testimony to be protected. Indeed, the seniority of these works calls for urgent reflections. Once again, the theme of the envelopes is emblematic; it is the result of 20th-century technical experimentation for which there is no in-depth case history of restoration practices that adequately preserve materials, finishes and colors. All of which are features that strongly connote the facades of Giuseppe Samonà’s buildings. This study is an outcome of the PRIN Research Project entitled DIMHENSION (Project Code PRIN_2022F38ZB3_002; CUP Master B53D23022540006; CUP J53D23013180006).