Monumental Cemetery of the Certosa – Bologna – Italy
Architects: Ercole Gasparini, Angelo Venturoli, Luigi Marchesini, Giuseppe Tubertini, Coriolano Monti
The theatre of memory
All cemeteries speak of memory but only some have the gift of representing it.
It so happened that the same day I was at the Bologna Cemetery there was a lecture by Renato Rizzi at the “Architecture of Memory” symposium organised by the Faculty of Architecture of Parma.
Walking through the galleries and cloisters I listened to Rizzi’s words and slowly slipped into a state of deep listening.
The words began to merge with the place where I was and the shapes began to reveal themselves through their subtlest language.
The indominables like Death and Memory shone through the shapes of the urns, tombstones, stone faces and the space I walked through became a great theatre in which the great collective story of life and death was represented. Where the absolute time of memory resounded within the contingent time of the present.
As Rizzi reminded me at that moment, we are the sum of all times, we feel the sum of all times, we are here to receive.
And then tell.
Fifth extension of the Main Cemetery – Voghera – Italy
Architects: Studio Monestiroli Associati
Remembering Antonio Monestiroli
I still clearly remember the first day of university at the Composition I course held by Antonio Monestiroli.
We students were ready to draw anything, and instead he presented himself with an annotated bibliography, which ordered and organised the basic texts of architecture into fundamental themes; we could only draw from the following year, first we needed to know and know what to draw.
That year I discovered the Type, the Place, the Treatises, the Manuals, a whole world opened up: the elegance of Adolf Loos, the sagacity of Karl Kraus, the ethical minimalism of Heinrich Tessenow, the rigor of Giorgio Grassi…
An incredible series of lenses revealed to us the world of architecture and the underlying thought. The scaffolding that supported the infinite beautiful architectural forms that we admired.
A few years later, now a graduate, I saw this cemetery published, where the words of Antonio Monestiroli, which that year had opened up a world to me, now condensed into something I could see. Where Place, Type, Form and Function intertwined in a masterful work and where his thoughts resounded.
Today, as a photographer, I wanted to see this place again. I lingered until after closing time, in that suspended time that awaits the arrival of evening, trying to listen. And by listening those circuits of memory and emotion were reactivated to pay homage to that first day of school. Thank you.
Aldo Amoretti (Sanremo, 1965), graduated in architecture from the Politecnico di Milano and worked as an architect until 2005 with the following awards: Silver plate at the Luigi Cosenza European Prize (1994, 2002, 2004); Shortlisted project at the international Emerging Architecture Award AR+D (2003); Honorable mention at the international Emerging Architecture Award AR+D (2006); Finalist in Archdaily Building of the year (2009).
In 2005 he began his work as an architectural photographer, collaborating with several internationally known architects such as Peter Zumthor, John Pawson, BIG Bjarke Ingels, Snhoetta, Auer Weber, J.L Mateo, among others. Among the numerous awards for his photographic work: Third Prize at the International Photography Award IPA (2020); First Prize at the A+Award (2017, 2019); Finalist at the Architectural Photography Awards (2018).
His photographic work is published in major architecture magazines such as The Architectural Review, Casabella, Detail, Abitare, and has been exhibited in international exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale, La Galerie d’Architecture in Paris, the National Museum of Architecture in Oslo, Bari International Archival, Fedrico II University of Naples. He is also involved in non-profit social photography. Among his most recent projects: Binario Morto, exhibited at the OFF Ethical Photography Festival in Lodi and Siamo tutti migranti.
Artist: Aldo Amoretti @aldoamoretti aldoamoretti.com info@aldoamoretti.com
