The book does much more than simply pay tribute to Casabella's long and illustrious career, incorporating as it does hundreds of groundbreaking articles in their original format.
“La Casa Bella” was born in January 1928. The monthly magazine was published by Studio Editoriale Milanese and directed by Guido Marangoni. At the start of 1933, Giuseppe Pagano, who worked on the magazine with Edoardo Persico, took over as director and changed its name to Casabella, a change of direction that coincided with the magazine’s acquisition by Domus. Persico became co-director in 1935. In 1938, the magazine’s name was changed to Casabella Costruzioni, and in 1940, the two words were inverted to create Costruzioni-Casabella. In December 1943, the magazine was suspended by the Italian ministry in charge of popular culture. Two years later, the publisher Gianni Mazzocchi restructured the magazine, confiding it to Franco Albini and Giancarlo Palanti. In 1946, three issues of Costruzioni were published, including a monographic issue about Giuseppe Pagano. The magazine was further suspended from 1947 to 1953 and in January 1954 Casabella-Continuità was born, under the direction of Ernesto Nathan Rogers. The magazine ran under this title until January 1965. From August 1965 to May 1970, Gian Antonio Bernasconi headed the magazine, whose name was converted back to Casabella. Alessando Mendini took over from Bernasconi and in 1976 was replaced by Bruno Alfieri, who was director from April to December of that year. From January 1977, Gruppo Editoriale Electa took over the publication, which was headed by Tomás Maldonado until December 1981. Vittorio Gregotti took over as director in March 1982. The current director, Francesco Da Co, has been running the magazine since March 1996. Electa was absorbed by Mondadori during this period and from April 2002, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore has been publishing the magazine. Considered Italy’s leading architectural magazine, over the past 80 years Casabella has been key in keeping architects and designers informed.
The magazine has contributed to spreading scientific knowledge and critical opinion, providing a window for dialogue with the international architectural scene. In exploring the magazine’s fascinating history, this book does much more than simply pay tribute to Casabella’s long and illustrious career, incorporating as it does hundreds of groundbreaking articles in their original format. Classified by theme, the articles are preceded by a critical introduction outlining editorial strategies, graphic evolutions and the modus operandi of the various editorial machines. The history of publishing, architecture, graphic design and illustration intertwines in this important volume, which sheds light on an ambitious, well-structured intellectual project of some considerable complexity.