"Io ormai entro nella storia". Giovannoni l'Enciclopedia Italiana e il preludio dell'architetto integrale

Starting in 1929, Giovannoni inaugurated a close collaboration with the Enciclopedia Italiana, for which he wrote some important entries, including the architect, the architecture, Bramante, Antonio da Sangallo, Domenico and Carlo Fontana. These choices do not appear to be random. Following Vitruvius’ definition, all these architects prefigured a comprehensive designer who possessed skills in all fields: from building to hydraulics, from historical knowledge to representation, from restoration to urban and territorial planning. He was practically an integral architect ante litteram. The essay follows the evolutionary line delineated by Giovannoni in describing the figure of this new polyspecialist designer placed within the realm of the Italian artistic and historical tradition. The integral architect, prefigured by Giovannoni and exemplified through various members of Sangallo and Fontana clans, was a designer halfway between an engineer and an artist and was endowed with a great knowledge of history and construction techniques. The new architect therefore had to propose new buildings that had to blend in with the environment and be respectful of the city's history.