The 1960s Italian summer houses from Domus archive
Holiday homes as summer destinations: the spaces, optimized and flexible, inspired by the vernacular architecture of the Mediterranean, welcome the landscape, the guest of honor.
Domus Summer
Discover the Domus summer special.
News, projects, archives, and insights.
A short tale about spiaggine, the car icons of the 1960s summer seasons
Conceived as special versions or regular models, beach cars embodied the desire for freedom of a whole decade, and were a formidable experimentation field for coachbuilders and car makers.
Italy’s “Sun Motorway”, the story of an exceptional infrastructure
In the spring of 1956, the foundation stone of the A1 Milan-Naples was laid. Let’s look back together at the construction and evolution over time of Italy’s longest motorway, still essential for connecting the country today.
Porto Cervo, the beach of the international jet-set where pan-Mediterranean architecture was born
Built from scratch a little over sixty years ago in an unspoiled area of the Sardinian coast, Porto Cervo has embodied the golden age of the Italian summer, becoming a prime mover in matters of urban development conscious of the autochthonous landscape diversity under the guidance of Prince Aga Khan IV and of many illustrious architects.
Going to the beach while staying in the city: 12 urban balneability projects
From Basel to Mexico City, urban beaches are one of the most interesting challenges in metropolitan design. Discover our selection here.
Five cult movies to rewatch this summer, handpicked by Domus
Evening falls and a refreshing breeze blows. The summer heat begins to fade. It’s time for a movie: we’ve selected five that span from the iconic 1960s to the present, encompassing cult and classic masterpieces ranging from horror to comedy, to watch again or discover for the first time.
A collection of outdoor itineraries between nature, architecture, art and design
Outside cities, there are magnificent places where the work of humans comes face to face with nature: parks and labyrinths, observatories and walkways. We have collected together more than fifty references for explorations away from urban centers.
The myth of the Italian holiday home as seen through movies and TV series
From the unforgettable Casa Malaperte where Godard set Contempt to the to the recent encroaching into Italy of the American series Succession and White Lotus, here’s a collection of houses that are now part of our emotional landscape.
10 books to read this summer
Vacation, time for reading, but which books should I bring with me? Emanuele Quinz chooses ten for Domus readers. They all relate in some way to design, understood as the ‘way we experience our environment.’ From Beka & Lemoine’s first book to Rahm’s publication on the Anthropocene, from botany to a fundamental novel by Richard Powers.
When Alain de Botton opposed nostalgic architecture through diffuse accommodation
From the Domus archive, the project by which the Swiss-born philosopher and writer brought together a dream team of architects and designers – including MVRDV, Zumthor and Urquiola – to “educate” a conservative British audience about contemporary architecture.
A holiday territory: Lignano Pineta from the Domus archives
In 1954 Domus published a project that would remain the most famous in the career of Friulian architect Marcello D’Olivo, as well as a reference for the integration of landscape, tourism and urban settlement.
Paradise invented: the villas of Costa Smeralda
From an inspired entrepreneurial vision to the conception of a whole stylistic vocabulary from scratch, Costa Smeralda – north-east of Sardinian shoreline – is still a design challenge, between architectural gems and the risks of property show-off.