His last thoughts were for the future of the Calcata estate, the large imaginative garden house in the medieval village on the outskirts of Rome where for fifty years together with his wife Giovanna Massobrio, also an architect, he gave shape to his idea of architecture linked to the genius loci, with the park dotted with thematic libraries, Water games, swimming pools, literary quotations, tributes to the great artists of the past, exotic animals. And perhaps it is precisely that fantastic dwelling where every corner is intellectual play and imagination but also history and thought to tell best of all the multifaceted and multifaceted personality of Paolo Portoghesi, who died today at 92 years still very lucid, in full activity. Renowned architect but also historian, critic, teacher, first director of the Architecture Biennale in the historic edition that with the Teatro del Mondo by Aldo Rossi launched the Italian way to Post Modern. A life until the last full of assignments, ideas, aspirations, projects that in many moments have crossed faith and faiths but also art, theater, cinema, as it was for Casa Papanice, built in Rome in the mid-60s and then became a set for many titles of Italian comedy, unforgettable the one with Monica Vitti protagonist of Dramma della Gelosia by Scola. Engineer father, graduated in architecture in 1957, Portoghesi in many years of career has seen many of his projects realized, designing and building really everything in Italy and abroad. The list is long, from the Casa Baldi, cited in all the histories of architecture precisely for its ability to link the architectural project to the place and history, to the mosque of Rome, perhaps his best known work, passing through the residential complexes of Enel in Tarquinia, the Academy of Fine Arts in L'Aquila, the theater of Catanzaro. His also the restoration of the Piazza del Teatro alla Scala in Milan and Piazza San Silvestro in Rome, while among the works abroad there are residences (Berlin), gardens (Montpellier), hotels, fast food (Moscow), the Strasbourg Mosque, many churches. "Having to choose three works that represent me, I would indicate the church of the Holy Family in Salerno, the small church of San Cornelio and Cipriano in Calcata and the mosque in Rome - he explained a few years ago in an interview with ANSA - But the projects are a bit 'all children, sometimes I go to visit them". But not only that, because Portoghesi dedicated so much time to teaching - at Sapienza and then at the Polytechnic of Milan of which he was rector from 1967 to 1979 - and to theoretical studies, to the writings that made history on the Roman Baroque and the beloved Borromini (in 2019 the revision of his monumental monograph of 1967). But also to the works dedicated to modern architecture, the reinterpretation and enhancement of the work of Mario Ridolfi, for example. All material that since 2016 has been donated to the Maxxi Museum in Rome. He was president of the Accademia di San Luca and academician of the Lincei, president of the Venice Biennale from 1984 to '93. And it is precisely to the Biennale that a fundamental passage in his career is linked, that of the work shared with Aldo Rossi in 1980 on the occasion of the first Architecture Exhibition, with the Strada Novissima and with the wonderful experiment of Il teatro del mondo. It was the moment of post-modernism, of which Portoghesi in Italy was the main exponent, with the idea of establishing a new creative relationship with the history and traditions of different civilizations. Even criticism over the years has not been lacking. For this reason, he confided at the milestone of his 90 years, the most recent revaluation of that theoretical commitment made him happy: "Finally today it has been understood that post-modernity was a movement to free oneself from slavery. For me the sense of greater understanding. And why not, out of respect for my work."
Expressions of condolence
"With Paolo Portoghesi, Italy loses an incomparable master of postmodern architecture. His art, his intuitions, his genius, will remain forever in the heritage of an art like architecture, lived and practiced not only to create beauty, but also to create works with peculiar and unique characteristics". With these words,the President of Veneto, Luca Zaia, expresses his condolences for the death of the great architect. "Of him - Zaia continues - Veneto also preserves a concrete memory of a prestigious presence: starting from the direction of the architecture sector of the Venice Biennale to which he was called in 1979, up to the construction of the Teatro nel Mondo, which he entrusted to Aldo Rossi, on a boat moored in the San Marco basin, which will then sail to Dubrovnik. And then Treviso, with the Latin Quarter and Palazzo Bortolan. To his family, to the world of architectural art and to all those who knew and esteemed him I address - he concludes - my deepest condolences".
"Today is a day of mourning for Italian architecture. The death of Portoghesi deprives us of an authoritative figure both in the field of design and in that of theory. He nurtured a global concept of architecture, in which the harmony between man and the forms of the built and inhabited areas had to be achieved". This is underlined by the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano. "I like to remember him here, above all, as the one who wanted and promoted at the Venice Biennale the first International Architecture Exhibition The presence of the past under the presidency of Giuseppe Galasso, opening with the Strada Novissima for the first time to the public the wonderful spaces of the Arsenale", concludes Sangiuliano.
President Roberto Cicutto, the board of directors and the Venice Biennale remember "with deep esteem and admiration the great architect Portoghesi, an extraordinary example of intellectual, who was enlightened president of the Biennale in the decade 1983-1992 and first director of the Architecture Sector from 1979 to 1982". "As part of the latter - recalls the Biennale - he conceived, among many initiatives, the legendary Strada Novissima (1980), which has left an indelible mark on the history of contemporary architecture and Postmodernism".
"A great pain, a great loss for Architecture and the world of culture: a friend, a Master and an intellectual who has contributed to defending beauty, always". This was stated bythe president of the Order of Architects of Rome and its province, Alessandro Panci. "A great loss for the country and for Rome, his city. His lesson on architecture will remain a cornerstone for all of us: professionals, connoisseurs and citizens", underlines President Panci on behalf of the entire Order of Rome and the Province by sending "a message of emotion and closeness to the family".