Mario Fiorentino. 
L'utopia della grande dimensione. Dall'Asse Attrezzato al Corviale

Book launch

Tuesday, 6 October 2026, 5:30 PM
Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Roma

Presentation of the book by Anna Veronese (Officina Libraria, 2025).

introduction by
Francesco Cellini

discussion with
Alberto Ferlenga
Luca Monica
Carlotta Torricelli 
 

> Link to the official webpage

Mario Fiorentino (Rome, 1918–1982) was a leading figure in the architectural culture of post-war Italy. Yet, despite designing and completing entire urban districts and holding prominent political and institutional positions, he is only rarely acknowledged among the major protagonists of this complex period in Italian architecture. This study seeks to provide an in-depth reassessment of the Roman architect’s professional and intellectual trajectory, focusing on his work of the 1960s and 1970s, which culminated in the controversial IACP residential complex at Corviale (1972–1981). Against the persistent debate generated by this project—a debate that remains unresolved to this day—the research interprets Corviale as a critique of Rome’s disorderly and uncontrolled expansion in the post-war period and, consequently, as an attempt to redirect the city’s development. Corviale is examined here from the earliest stages of its conception through the analysis of previously unpublished documents and drawings, the investigation of its possible formal archetypes, and a reconsideration of the Italian and international debates of the period. These debates centred on the challenges of urban development and on a number of key concepts that constitute the principal lines of inquiry of this volume: the city-territory, the city-region, large scale, and grande dimensione. Particular attention is devoted to the latter concept, for which the study seeks to formulate a comprehensive definition through the analysis of several lesser-known projects by Fiorentino that shortly preceded Corviale: the Housing Unit for a District at Tre Fontane (1964–1969), the study for a Secondary Administrative Centre at Flaminio (1969–1971), the project for a Residential Settlement at Tor di Quinto (1971–1972), and the proposal for the Asse Attrezzato and the New Administrative System of Rome (1967–1970). These four case studies exemplify Fiorentino’s vision of the development of the contemporary city and, in different ways, converge in the compositional process that ultimately gave rise to Corviale.