I grattacieli italiani. La trasposizione di una tipologia

The diffusion of the skyscraper in Italy had particular impetus during the Fascist period, following the competition for the Chicago Tribune Tower of 1922, in which many European architects participated (Loos, Gropius, Meyer, Taut) and also some Italians like Giuseppe Boni and Marcello Piacentini, designer of the INA Tower in Brescia (1932), unanimously recognized as the first Italian skyscraper, and of the Piacentini Tower in Genoa (1935), that they became an iconic model for the subsequent realizations of 1930s in Italy. The aim of the present work is to explore the Italian transposition of a typically American architectural typology transplanted to Europe in the early Twentieth Century to accommodate the desire for architectural renewal rather than the need to solve practical problems linked to building speculation. Furthermore, the study proposes a critical reflection on a design theme that includes stylistic and technological but also political and cultural issues.