The contribution of Nervi comes at a particular moment of cultural and social history of the twentieth century in Italy: the testing of the new material created by the combination of concrete and steel (the "cast stone" as the Master used to call it). The economic "miracle" after World War II and the successful cooperation between companies, professionals and research laboratories favoured the conquest of a role as protagonist of the Italian structural engineering. The extensive bibliography and recent international cultural initiatives (such as the travelling exhibition "Pier Luigi Nervi. Architecture as a challenge" opened in 2009) have demonstrated the great interest that his life and his works still arouse, even if, for the intensity and variety of his cultural and professional activities, some aspects are still unexplored. This is the case of works that Nervi has made in Campania, such as the most famous building, the Cinema -Theatre Augusto of Napoli. The study of Nervi archives has allowed to draw up a list of his works. Before the Second World War, near Salerno, Nervi built, perhaps, the first reinforced concrete structure prefabricated in Italy: a hangar for the Italian Air Force with a cover made up of 14 arches in prefabricated elements; in Pozzuoli he designed underground naphthal tanks and, on commission of the Autonomous Administration of State Monopolies, intervened in four tobacco industries: Napoli, Benevento, San Giorgio del Sannio and Scafati. The research tends to reconstruct another piece of the complex history of the most important professional and creative Italian engineer of the twentieth century and, at the same time, it contributes to the recognition of significant works (for the whole or for parts of them) in our area, in order to identify the correct methods of maintenance and recovery and to ensure their preservation.
On the trail of Nervi in Campania: between knowledge and conservation
RIBERA, Federica
;
2014-01-01
Abstract
The contribution of Nervi comes at a particular moment of cultural and social history of the twentieth century in Italy: the testing of the new material created by the combination of concrete and steel (the "cast stone" as the Master used to call it). The economic "miracle" after World War II and the successful cooperation between companies, professionals and research laboratories favoured the conquest of a role as protagonist of the Italian structural engineering. The extensive bibliography and recent international cultural initiatives (such as the travelling exhibition "Pier Luigi Nervi. Architecture as a challenge" opened in 2009) have demonstrated the great interest that his life and his works still arouse, even if, for the intensity and variety of his cultural and professional activities, some aspects are still unexplored. This is the case of works that Nervi has made in Campania, such as the most famous building, the Cinema -Theatre Augusto of Napoli. The study of Nervi archives has allowed to draw up a list of his works. Before the Second World War, near Salerno, Nervi built, perhaps, the first reinforced concrete structure prefabricated in Italy: a hangar for the Italian Air Force with a cover made up of 14 arches in prefabricated elements; in Pozzuoli he designed underground naphthal tanks and, on commission of the Autonomous Administration of State Monopolies, intervened in four tobacco industries: Napoli, Benevento, San Giorgio del Sannio and Scafati. The research tends to reconstruct another piece of the complex history of the most important professional and creative Italian engineer of the twentieth century and, at the same time, it contributes to the recognition of significant works (for the whole or for parts of them) in our area, in order to identify the correct methods of maintenance and recovery and to ensure their preservation.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
