Modern Museums in historic buildings

the Italian post-war experience and Scarpa’s singular contribution

Abstract

The study examines Carlo Scarpa’s museum work in the post-1945 Italian context, based on two episodes that occurred in the country in the interwar period: the transformations proposed to the concept and physical conception of the museum, following the example of other countries; and the seminal experience of the great exhibitions and fairs held in the 1930s, in which forms of modern architecture were used associated with the avant-garde graphic work of Edoardo Persico and Marcelo Nizzoli, which constituted the basis for the post-war experience of “internal museums ” by continuators such as Franco Albini, Ignazio Gardella and the BBPR Group. This context, not covered by existing analyses and the reflection on Scarpa’s operating mode, offers original contributions to the topic. Scarpa’s singular approach and sophisticated work, achieved through a highly empirical process, are fundamental content for the field of restoration and  interventions in preexisting structures on the rise in Brazil.
However, it is evident that its transposition as a model for broader practice is unfeasible. Its effectiveness requires
artistic sensitivity and a taste for handcrafted, essential in defining each decision or element in the project, as shown by the hundreds of sketches formulated for Castelvecchio, through which constructive and expository details specific to each issue were developed.