Pietro Porcinai and the Landscape of Modern Italy

This book is about Pietro Porcinai, a landscape architect, active from the 1930s until his death in 1986. His apprenticeships in Belgium and Germany exposed him to recent developments in landscape architecture and architecture as well as helping develop a network of design professionals and technical support throughout Europe. As Italy’s principal practitioner and sole landscape architect working in the modern idiom, in 1948 Porcinai was a founding member of the International Federation of Landscape Architects. While he never taught on a regular basis he was instrumental in establishing several landscape programs and his office was an important training ground for young landscape architects.

Born in Florence in 1910, Pietro Porcinai grew up on the classic grounds of the Villa Gamberaia in Settignano where his father served as head gardener. Although he studied agriculture in college, Porcinai’s true interest lay in the landscape architecture practice he founded in 1938. Early projects centered in the area of Arezzo, whose style reflected modern­ized traditional models. In the postwar era the office flourished, producing modern gardens of remarkable design and use of plants. In these works, Porcinai convincingly demonstrated the affinity between historical architecture and landscapes un­compromisingly modern. During his long and productive career he also consulted on autostrada planning, and designed public parks, memorials, and even a Pinocchio theme park-at times collaborating with noted architects such as Renzo Piano, Carlo Scarpa and Oscar Niemeyer. This book, the first English-language study on Pietro Porcinai provides a comprehensive and richly illustrated overview of his life and remarkable achievements.