Moretti's work reflects a continuous search for new ways of giving expression to form, resulting from his gift for combining a solid Classical, 'Roman' education.
The catalogue and the exhibition are the result of more than four years of research conducted by the Academy of Architecture and the Fondazione Archivio del Moderno of the University of Italian-speaking Switzerland with the La Sapienza University in Rome and the Italian Central State Archive. The aim of the research into the complex figure of Moretti is to study his original contribution to Italian architectural culture during the twenty years of Fascism and the post-war period, by analyzing his works, designs and writing. Moretti’s work reflects a continuous search for new ways of giving expression to form, resulting from his gift for combining a solid Classical, ‘Roman’ education with his interest in and willingness to try new experimental forms of knowledge of the real world which prevailed, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, in the field of art and science.
By reconstructing the cultural background, and carefully studying his writings and his activities as a gallery-owner, editor and film director, it is possible to gain insight into the process which led the architect to formulate original thoughts about some key themes, such as the dialectical relationship between the historic present and the past.