Robaldo Morozzo della Rocca

Experimental Attitude

Robaldo Morozzo della Rocca (1904-1993) shaped the architectural landscape of Italy – especially Genoa – through changing times. Morozzo was a modern architect, but he was not a modernist and his buildings belong to an alternative tradition of Razionalismo. His work is impossible to categorise and, without taking any ideological stance, expressed itself in a variety of styles between the periods of the monarchy and the republic: from futurism to neoplasticism, and from Fascist rhetoric to experiments with artisanal use of concrete. This monograph not only reconstructs the past, but also reveals the present-day relevance of Morozzo della Rocca's approaches.

Presenting his most important works – ranging from villas and palazzi to apartment buildings and his INA Casa projects – this publication traces the story of an architect who was ahead of his time and whose influence is tangible to this day.

This book is the first English publication dedicated to Morozzo. His contribution to 20th-centruy architecture is explored through a rich set of perspectives, including texts by Carmen Andriani, Maria Carola Morozzo della Rocca, Valter Scelsi and Adam Štĕch, al well as photographs by Francesca Iovene.

Stefano Passamonti, born in 1988, grew up in central Italy, where he received an artistic education. He studied architecture at Hochschule Konstanz, Politecnico die Milano and FAU-USP São Paulo, graduating in 2014. He attended Luigi Snozzi's Design Seminar, Porto Academy/FAUP and received a PhD from University of Genoa in 2022. After practising as an architect in Belgium, Brazil and Italy, he established the Milan-based practice Tenet together with Leonardo Chironi. The office works on projects of various scales, through selected private commissions and competitions, with works featured in magazines such as Area and Domus, presented at the Triennale die Milano and Drop City. Passamonti regularly participates in academic activities and has collaborated with Accademia di San Luca, Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, Bauhaus Weimar, Domus Academy, ETH Zurich, FAUP, TU Dresden, among others. He has curated events and exhibitions at the Milan Chamber of Architects and Politecnico di Milano. His writings have been published in journals such as the Architectural Review, Domus, Industria delle Costruzioni, HPA and Stoà. He co-authored a proposal for the Piranesi Prix De Rome with Superstudio.