Paolo Vietti-Violi

Paolo Vietti-Violi (June 20, 1882, Grandson, Switzerland - December 25, 1965, Vogogna, Italy) was an Italian architect.

Life

Born in the French-speaking Switzerland from Italian parents who resided there for business, he studied in Geneva and Paris (at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts) from which he graduated in 1907. He moved to Milan where in 1914 he re-graduated at the Royal Polytechnic in order to practice his profession in Italy. He then began a career as a designer in the field of sports facilities such as racetracks, stadiums and their complementary structures. His design universe, however, was very large and varied, as evidenced by the different architectural aspects, which are identifiable in the rationalism of the time, still soaked from the original neo-classical French style.

He worked not only in Italy but also in several countries of the Central Europe; he also realized several projects in Turkey, then in India, East Africa and South America (including a Jockey Club in Argentina).

His skills gained him the respect of kings, rulers and aristocrats. In 1907 he married Maria Biraghi Lossetti, an aristocratic heiress of the Lords of Vogogna Biraghi Lossetti, who bore him the following year his son Emanuele, who became an architect and his collaborator in Milan. He was an artillery officer in Genoa during the First World War and in 1944 he became the Mayor of Vogogna during the partisan Republic of Ossola.

Vietti-Violi died in Vogogna at 83 on the Christmas Day of 1965. He was still working on the racecourse Parilly of Lyon and at the new church of Villadossola assisted by his assistant at the time, the architect Vladimiro Francioli.

Honors

Among the honors and offices was: Honorary member of the Brera Academy in Milan, Corresponding member of the Academy of Architecture in Paris, silver medal of Education, Grand Officer of the Crown of Italy and Official Order of St. Maurice, received the French Legion of Honour. He held on several occasions lessons on sports architecture at the University of London, Dijon and Istanbul. A road is named after him in his Italian village of Vogogna,Via Architetto Paolo Vietti Violi.

Sport projects

Vietti-Violi's important contribution to national and international level was in sport: he observed in Casabella, the international monthly magazine dedicated to architecture: "... the rebirth of sport and above all the spirit of sport in Italy, as wanted directed and organized by the Fascist Regime, has itself brought about an impressive renewal of sporting works".[1]

His designs for sporting facilities stressed the importance of planning the overall environment: public transport and access road links, parking facilities and stadium turnstiles.[2] He designed and directed works for the construction of more than 33 racetracks, stadiums and sports facilities in Italy and abroad. Among those national: Tor di Valle Racecourse, Capannelle Racecourse in Rome, Merano, Agnano, San Siro, Monza, Florence, Grosseto, Bologna and Rimini. Internationally, he worked in Addis Ababa, Ankara, Istanbul, Adana, Izmir, Belgrade, Sofia, Valencia and elsewhere. This included the Ankara Hippodrome (1936) and an unsuccessful entry for the competition to design Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's mausoleum, Anıtkabir.[3]

He designed the Stadium of San Martino in Genoa and the complex of sports facilities with indoor pool and the L'Aquila municipal stadium Stadio Tommaso Fattori (L'Aquila, Italy, 1933)

On April 21, 1926, Vietti-Violi's Capannelle Racecourse was inaugurated in Rome. He also designed the racecourses of Milan (San Siro Racecourse), Monza (Mirabello Racecourse), Napoli (Agnano Racecourse) and Rimini, as well as trotting racecourses in Milan, Bologna and Florence. The architect realized the Sports Palace at the Milan Fair, with the cycling track, which opened in April 1923 and the sports facilities in San Martino d'Albaro, L'Aquila, Merano, Saronno and Milano Marittima.[4]

In 1936, the Ankara 19 Mayıs Stadium ("19 May Sports Stadium"), designed by Vietti Violi, was inaugurated and was the stage of many celebrations of national holidays. In a published description of the project, Vietti Violi touched on the militaristic connotations of sport activities in the 1930s: the stadium complex was "a grandiose and exceptional program that necessitated the creation of a wide road for military parades".[5]

Later in his career he designed the BJK İnönü Stadium (Istanbul, Turkey, 1939,[3] completed 1947).

Civil works projects

He participated in many important design competitions for major civil works: hospitals (Pavia), factories, theaters (Genoa), basilicas (Syracuse), public facilities, workers' villages in Villadossola and Pieve Vergonte - built in 1940, Milano Centrale train station competition.

Notes

  1. ↑ Martin (2004), p.81
  2. ↑ Martin, Simon (2004). Football and Fascism: The National Game under Mussolini. Berg  – via Questia (subscription required) . pp. 101–102. ISBN 1859737056.
  3. 1 2 "Representing National Identity and Memory in the Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk", Christopher S. Wilson, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 68, No. 2 (June 2009), pp. 224-253. p238
  4. ↑ Canella, Giuntini, 2009, p.280
  5. ↑ Bozdoğan (2001) p.75

Bibliography

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