A study of the theoretical statements of Italian Gruppo 7 - Focusing on the relationship between modernity, internationality, history and local traditions -

Abstract

This research aimed at deepening the historical and critical understanding of the Italian rationalist group “Gruppo 7,” focusing in particular on the statements contained in four articles published in the magazine La Rassegna Italiana in 1926–27. Moving from the belief that these articles have been underestimated by historiography, which has mainly focused on the group’s links with classical tradition and monumentality in public buildings, this study has re-analyzed their contents, contrasted them to contemporary theoretical works, and compared them to the realized architecture of the group. The analysis highlights an original theoretical position of Gruppo 7 on the relationship between modernity, internationality, history, and local traditions. In a context where, both from the theoretical and practical points of view, anti-historicism was the rule, Gruppo 7 recognized regional trends in the practice of modern architecture and indicated local tradition (in its broadest meaning, not limited to a specific historical period) as the means to provide the Modern Movement’s architecture with a local identity and individuality. An analysis of Casa Rustici, designed by Giuseppe Terragni, which shows a complex interaction between modernity and local history, confirms that the statements of Gruppo 7 were not only abstract speculation, but they were also consistently applied to the design activity. This would make Gruppo 7 a more substantial protagonist of the Modern Movement than traditional historiography has depicted.