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Il caso storiografico del Padiglione Tedesco per l’Esposizione Universale di Barcellona del 1929, progettato da Mies van der Rohe -riconosciuto solo nel 1960, quando da circa trent’anni era stato smontato, come il più alto esempio di architettura moderna, e nei sei mesi dell’Expo passato inosservato-, appare come paradigmatico esempio della storiografia novecentesca di architettura che, fino alla Biennale di Venezia del 1992, non ha considerato come tema meritevole di attenzione l’architettura intenta a definire lo spazio sacro contemporaneo. L’illustrazione del Santuario de la Virgen del Camino a Leon, sull’itinerario di pellegrinaggio per Compostela, progettato (1957-61), in sostituzione di una vecchia aula liturgica, dal padre dominicano Francisco Coello de Portugal, letto in parallelo con la ricostruzione della Cattedrale di Capua, bombardata durante la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, pone attenzione all’aspetto dialettico tra tipologie tradizionali di impianto degli spazi sacri e le nuove modalità di svolgimento liturgico dei riti, offrendo approfondimenti anche sui nuovi materiali e l’immagine complessiva degli spazi per il culto. The historiographical case of the German Pavilion for the 1929 Universal Exposition in Barcelona, designed by Mies van der Rohe - recognized only in 1960, when it had been dismantled for about thirty years, as the highest example of modern architecture, and passed unnoticed during the six months of the Expo, appears as a paradigmatic example of twentieth-century historiography of architecture which, until the 1992 Venice Biennale, did not consider the sacred architecture to meritable of attention. The illustration of the Santuario de la Virgen del Camino in Leon, on the pilgrimage route to Compostela, designed (1957-61), to replace an old liturgical hall, by the Dominican father Francisco Coello de Portugal, read in parallel with the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Capua, bombed during the Second World War, pays attention to the dialectical aspect between traditional types to build of the sacred spaces and the new methods of liturgical performance of the rites, also offering insights into the new materials and the overall image of the spaces for the cult.

Focusing on the mosaic peristyle, located in the geometric and semantic heart of the monumental area - that is the intersection between the Vetus basilica and the Nova'one, built by Paulinus of Nola in the early fifth century - it was possible to carry out a 'deep model' of architectural building, through the accurate analysis of the 3D laser scanning survey with the documentary, archival, photographs, and references acquisitions. It is a digital 'model', made by the integration and contextualization of the geometric data with materials, historians, color, composition, conservation, restorative, and figural Iconographical ones. This is the 'source' digital, to which the present proposal gains from selective relational queries: action for the protection, enhancement and preservation of the site through 3D reconstructions and multimedia animations - direct to the wider public, from the tourist to the expert - in which it can appreciate the scenarios proposed in the historical iconography, or the graphic examples of restoration carried out by past researchers and travelers, or new proposals for reconfiguration based on digital archival records. The 3D models and animations can also refer to hypertextual epigraphy and iconography of the mosaic peristyle, and to the thematic analysis on decorative, hagiographical and devotional elements, as well as to educational and didactic ones, about the mosaic production and realization. This methodological approach, which integrates the information systems' design to the systematization and classification of documentary data, it is widely applicable to the Cultural Heritage's enjoyment, using specific applications for mobile touch-screen devices and the AR wearable devices in the near future.

La progettazione dello spazio sacro durante il Novecento ha dato luogo a un radicale cambiamento. Gli eventi bellici e l’irruzione di nuove tecnologie hanno accompagnato la trasformazione del luogo dove la comunità dei credenti si riunisce. La trasformazione, la reinterpretazione o l’abbandono di antiche tipologie di distribuzione degli spazi o, talvolta, la riproposizione di figurazioni in stile, rappresentano anche un percorso di lettura della storia della Chiesa italiana, mentre definiscono aspetti precipui della società del nostro paese. Le implicazioni connesse al rapportarsi tra i linguaggi artistici concorrono a lasciare spazio per cogliere valori e significati consegnati dalla tradizione e, forse, proprio per questo, metabolizzati attraverso una chiave che ne mutuasse la loro attualizzazione. Il recupero di memorie cristiane ha guidato un percorso di metànoia in cui il credente del XXI secolo può riconoscersi senza percepirsi «fuori dal tempo» Sacred space design during the 20th century has resulted in a radical change. The war and the eruption of new technologies have accompanied the transformation of the place where the community of believers gathers. The transformation, the reinterpretation or renouncing of old typologies concerning the distribution of spaces or sometimes the return of figures in style, represent also a way of reading the history of the Italian Church, while defining specific social aspects in our country. The implications linked to the relationship between the artistic languages contribute to let understand values and meanings given by tradition and, perhaps, for this reason, metabolized through a key that borrowed their accomplishment. The recovery of Christian memories has led a itinerary of metànoia in which the believer of the 21st century can recognize himself without perceiving himself «out of time».

Il testo illustra la chiesa della sacra Famiglia a Prato a distanza di oltre cinquant'anni dalla sua progettazione. L'opera, singolare episodio di edilizia sacra, ideata da Silvestro Bardazzi e Francesco Gurrieri -entrambi docenti dell'ateneo fiorentino e ambedue già presidi della Facoltà di architettura-, costituisce, per la sua peculiare configurazione uno dei prodotti più innovativi realizzati in concomitanza della celebrazione del Concilio Ecumenico Vaticano II (1963-68). Il testo analizza le valenze architettoniche relazionandole all'articolato dibattito italiano, e, in particolare fiorentino, sorto attorno al tema dei nuovi luoghi per la nuova liturgia. Tradizione e modernità dunque come strumenti dialettici della conservazione.

The modern Pompeii was built at the beginning of 20th century on intuition of the lawyer Bartolo Longo, who planned not only the building of a church, but even a “town of hospitality”; from 1876 and for about 60 years, a tiny and dreary chapel was transformed in one of the sacred architectural episodes more representative of the 20th century in Europe. The church was opened in 1891 and then slightly enlarged (with a dome), while the actual façade, then over-dimensioned with respect to the church, was completed in 1901. From 1912 to 1925 an independent bell-tower was added. The reinforced concrete (r.c.) enlargement (1933-1939) described here is a case of great historical and structural interest for several reasons. The small masonry church (one nave, 420 m2, 18 m high), was in fact transformed in a much larger one (three aisles, 2000 m2, 45 m high), with a new crypt and a new and much higher dome, preserving at the same time the old nave (only sligthly lengthened) and its decorations, as a sort of testimony of the original identity. In a three-dimensional environment as this, built around the Icon of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary, the enlargement decided around 1930 had necessarily to be three-dimensional too (i.e. both in plan and elevation), to guarantee to all faithful people the same perspective look toward the main altar and the feeling of being in the very same (although enlarged) place. This was made possible by means of the r.c. technology, then at the beginning of his history, whose potentiality were accepted only provided that the new structural elements (columns, beams, vaults) were systematically masked with plasters and other decorations, according to the idea – typical of that time – that the concrete were not acceptable from a formal point of view for religious buildings.