As part of the initiatives taking place for Pistoia’s year as Italian Capital of Culture, the Palazzo Comunale is hosting an exhibition dedicated to Giovanni Michelucci, one of the city’s best known native sons.
Organized by the Fondazione Michelucci of Fiesole and the City of Pistoia, “The Construction of the City” explores Michelucci’s life, work and vision through quotations, drawings and sketches, videos and archival photographs. The aim of the exhibition is not to be a comprehensive retrospective, but to put Michelucci’s principles in dialogue with contemporary architectural concepts and concerns.
The show revisits several projects Michelucci carried out in the wake of disasters, including plans for Florence after the flood of 1966 and the Longarone church he designed after the Vajont Dam tragedy of 1963. Items on display illustrate how Michelucci was open to change and placed people at the center of all his designs—particularly in examples such as the garden in the Sollicciano prison, or the Cassa di Risparmio bank in Pistoia: the latter’s construction required him to dismantle one of his own buildings, which no longer met local needs.
The exhibition will run until May 21. For more information, see the Fondazione Michelucci website.
