An essential look at the Italian architect, author, and designer Aldo Rossi, whose work paved the way for the postmodern movement. This fundamental re-examination of Rossi's architecture (1931–1997) explores his writings, drawings, and product designs, including the coffee makers and clocks he designed for the Italian company Alessi. Rossi, the first Italian to receive the Pritzker Prize, rejected modernism, seeking a form of architecture that could transcend the aesthetic legacy of fascism in post-war Italy. He was a visionary who did not allow contemporary trends to dominate his thinking. His baroque sensibility and poetic approach, captured in his buildings and significant texts such as The Architecture of the City, inspired critic Ada Louise Huxtable to describe him as "a poet who happens to be an architect."

Diane Ghirardo explores various categories of structures—monuments, public buildings, cultural institutions, theaters, and cemeteries—drawing significantly from unpublished archival material while always keeping Rossi's texts in the foreground. Examining the relationships between Rossi's multifaceted life, his rich work, and his own reflections, this book provides a critical understanding of Rossi's buildings and the role of architecture in post-war Italy.

Pages: 280, Publication Year: 0729, Dimensions: 20.3x20.3cm