An exemplary series of activities have been taking place regarding this lesser known building by the Milanese maestro.

The official occasion was the 50th anniversary of its inauguration. In October 1957, the client (publisher Aldo Garzanti) officially opened the headquarters of the philanthropic foundation whose purpose was to receive intellectuals, both young and old, in need of help. The conference took stock of an analysis (documentary and material) of the Forlì complex, which has been part of a programme of interventions for underlining the value of contemporary buildings requested by the Emilia Romagna region’s Cultural and Landscape Heritage board in accord with the government ministry. Architect Paola Mazzitelli is coordinating an in-depth study of the building in order to define the scope of the restoration works. Materials have been subjected to chemical and physical examinations (experimentation has begun with compatible materials with the company Tassullo), an extensive survey has been carried out, with constant referrals to documentary analysis, for which an agreement has been set up with the Aldo Rossi Architecture Faculty at Cesena. The project was held up by the precarious state of conservation of Ponti’s original drawings, kept at the Centro Studi e Archivi della Comunicazione at the University of Parma. The drawings are currently being restored but in the meantime an exhibition has been organised with the documentary material available, a kind of preview of what will be the overall result of the research (which will then be the subject of other initiatives). The exhibition, which recently drew to a close, was conceived with the aim of increasing the city’s awareness of the work of Gio Ponti, the enlightened client Aldo Garzanti, and an important episode in the cultural history of Forlì.

The show was aided by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Forlì, which also funded the restoration of 220 drawings. The exhibition opened with a large portrait of the architect and a voice describing the poetry of his work, as well as numerous magazines from the time showing the publication of the Hotel de la Ville. The original drawings and photographs on display in the following rooms documented the restoration of the drawings, the first to be done on material by a 20th-century architect. Particularly interesting was Ponti’s sketchbook with notes, sketches and design studies presented to Garzanti during the ideas phase. In the third room a number of photographs of the building were displayed next to extracts taken from the maestro’s writings. Video interviews with local personalities (the owner of the company that built the building and the current president of the Fondazione Garzanti) highlight the desire to involve the public in this cultural operation. A communications operation that is certainly important in a country where poor knowledge – often due to poor information – of modern and contemporary architecture has led to preconceived and unfounded hostility towards recent architecture. S.M.