On the Italian Republic Day of 2019, design went up to the Quirinal Hill for the first time, finding a permanent home in its halls and offices, chapels and gardens; little by little it entered the Presidential Estate of Castelporziano, and symbolically conquered the cliff of Villa Rosebery.
Arranged with taste in the internal and external spaces, 102 works have significantly contributed to the renewal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic’s residences.
The decision to introduce design alongside contemporary art, which is trailblazing from the point of view of museography, has proven fundamental for two reasons. First, design can be seen as a kind of conceptual and democratic art, which exemplifies Italy’s republican years. It should be remembered that, despite the humanistic roots of classicism, the almost prophetic seminal works of visionary artists such as Leonardo da Vinci or trademarks avant la lettre such as Della Robbia, the mechanical serialisation of Futurism and forerunners such as Gio Ponti, it was during the republican years that industrial design was structured as a discipline. Due to such slight delay, craftmanship was able to survive, and this was one of the keys to the success of the made in Italy. A success which was also due to the fruitful meeting of designers and producers, which prompted companies to invest in creativity, allowing schools and universities, now regarded as among the best in the world, to train young people and enhance their talent. Therefore, design has translated the stimuli coming from globalisation, market competition and technological innovation into an art form that develops the culture of the project, preserving the balance between the artistic and the technical components, and delegates the material execution of the work, or rather, it engineers it, to make it cheaper and more widespread. For this reason, design in Italy has become a relevant phenomenon and its products accurately describe the material culture of the last decades. Secondly, design has changed the perception of the presidential buildings by applying the logic of contemporary living. Through the furnishings, everybody takes possession of the places and learns to recognise them. The objects on display help the visitors, the citizens who know them through the media and those who work there to feel the presidential residences closer to their lives and to the country’s collective imagination.
The choice of authors intends to illustrate the history of design, starting with the pioneers of industrial design, by presenting 76 of its protagonists: talented architects, multifaceted artists, exponents of radical and avant-garde groups, interpreters of taste and fashion, entrepreneurs of creativity and new talents.
The selection of the works was limited to those still in production and made by Italian companies, with specific criteria.
In the first place, the works on display are ones that are aimed at improving the functionality of the environments, to make them more comfortable, more welcoming and better illuminated. Several coffee tables, which were needed, now embellish the drawing rooms: Bellini, Mollino and Tulczinsky’s sculptural bases, Mangiarotti’s phytomorphic silhouettes, Albini’s zoomorphic figures, Cappellini and Citterio’s minimalist outlines, Foggini and Parisio’s variable compositions. The works by Laviani, Magistretti and Portoghesi easily replace the dusty tables habillées, Dorfles’s panels optimise the acoustics of the Castle’s theatre.
The seats by Vignelli, Asnago, Lazzeroni and Rizzato satisfy some ceremonial needs, those by Boeri, Degara and Rota adorn the coffee houses. The presence of design intensifies in the Torrino del Quirinale, where the furniture seemed dated and partly worn out, and in the rooms dedicated to welcoming visitors, which feature works by Frattini, Lissoni, Mari, Meda, Sottsass, Superstudio and Vigo. Maintaining the swirling dynamism of the staircase,
Binfaré’s silver sofas usher in the Torrino’s rarified atmospheres, in front of works by Joe Colombo and Parisi. The lower Belvedere pays homage to Ponti’s genius, while, higher up, the dining room is dressed by Armani with soft tones that reveal an elegant filigree of grotesque. Light, a physical phenomenon and a symbolic archetype, is a key theme of the project.
It was an interesting challenge to improve it: especially in the Mascarino Staircase, where Guzzini emphasises the wonder of the Baroque, in the Nativity Chapel, where Nanni lights up the frescoes with a mysterious glow, and in the Casterporziano Chapel, where Piero Castiglioni highlights the sacredness of the space. The wall lamps by Ercole Barovier, Carlo Colombo, Gardella and Zuccheri bring into the light the iridescent reflections of the Murano glass; on the frescoed vaults, the floor lamps by Lelii, Gismondi, Groppi and Rava and Chiesa and Raggi’s chalice-shaped lampshades give rise to a spectacular chiaroscuro effect. The evergreen table lamps by Aulenti, Tobia Scarpa and Zanuso show all their autonomy in the reception halls, whereas the worktables of the President and the Secretary General are illuminated by the lamps designed by the Castiglioni brothers, De Lucchi and Fassina, Groppi and Calabrese, Magistretti.
Secondly, the selection sought those artifacts that enhance the context’s material and intangible resources with identity and consistency, favouring the evocative dimension which transcends mere functionality. It therefore seems natural that there should be a similarity, in the Imperial Apartments, between Munari’s lanterns and the Japanese decorations, between Navone’s pine cone and the rhombus motif of the brocade, between Angelo Barovier’s and Tulczinsky’s Murano glass and the Beauvais tapestries, and, in Castelporziano, between Caccia Dominioni’s tripods and the Roman ruins, between Navone’s seats and the endless cork oak forests, between Trimarchi’s systems and the ineffable quiet of the woods. It should also be noted that, by establishing a respectful dialogue with the Baroque, Neoclassical and Savoy interiors, design enhances the presidential properties and possessions: Fornasetti’s rigid geometries update the cabinet-making masterpieces by Piffetti and Maggiolini, and the timeless armchairs by Mendini, Pesce and BBPR blend in, tempering the splendid gilding. In a continual game of references, Novembre’s objects recall the beauty of Italian architecture, whereas Carlo Scarpa’s murrine and Dordoni’s silky textures suggest the beauty of art. To celebrate the history and 160 years of the Unification of Italy, Bianconi and Venini’s vase, Morales’s curtains and Martinelli’s lamps wear a patriotic tricolor uniform.
Thirdly, the intention to involve a great number of companies, despite the growing concentration of the sector, weighed in the choice of the objects. Therefore, the branch of design more sensitive to artisanal vocation and to the development of know-how linked to local traditions, art and fashion, was also considered, with the aim of rediscovering the liveliness of the relationship between the old and the new even in the texture of Rossi and Sottsass’s solid wood, in the reflections on Branzi’s brass and Devecchi’s silvers, in Thun’s pleated leathers and in Ulrich’s intertwined ones, in Helg’s knotted wicker.
Placed in the architecture of the presidential residences with the aim of representing the combination of inspiration and innovation in Republican Italy, these works reconstitute the evolutionary continuity in furniture, proving that there often is a continuum between the artifacts of the past and those of today.
As it innovates in the footsteps of tradition, the leitmotif of Quirinale contemporaneo, the juxtaposition of old and new objects bestows on the places, which hitherto had a more detached museum identity, a familiar and present-day image.
Article authored by: Renata Cristina Mazzantini
Sources:
https://www.quirinale.it/elementi/30045
https://www.quirinale.it/elementi/30787
https://www.quirinale.it/elementi/59981