This publication reconstructs the work of Aldo Andreani - the architect and sculptor - through a series of articles by the authors and other scholars.
The talent of architect Aldo Andreani (1887-1971) soon emerged, culminating just before WWI with the masterpiece of his youth: the Chamber of Commerce in Mantua (1911-14), a building which gave his home town the emblem of a new image of the 20th century. Both architect and artist, Andreani dismissed the ideas of Boito, basing his work on an unorthodox form of restless inspiration, which soon led him to use other means of expression,as we can see in the Villa La Rocchetta at Bosisio Parini (1920-21). His search for a style of architecture that was not limited to the smallness of an individual building, but could tackle urban scale and landscaping, was defined by a capacity to mould space and matter through which Andreani adopted the terrestrial and sensual plasticity of Mannerism and the Baroque, clearly implemented in the famous Sola Busca complex in Milan (1924-32). In the early 1930s, at a time when the image of architectural modernity was becoming clear, Andreani continued to follow an obstinately independent path. Even when he seemed to be moving closer to Rationalist ideas, he did so by making a provocative aberration, gradually realizing that he could not incarnate his personality by practicing his profession.
A series of critical articles about his main works, a general register of works and a bibliography accompany the volume, illustrated with original drawings by the architect as well as images from past and present.