Elena Ippoliti

Between Architecture and Writing: Graphical Geometry to Decipher Systems of Signs. Campo Verano in Rome

There are many examples that represent a profound link between architecture and writing. Both “visual languages”, the two systems have historically interacted, reinforcing each other and activating multiple visual relationships related to the different cultures and linguistic areas. In this very broad context, the paper develops a particular reflection on the relationship between architecture and writing through a particular case study: some of the many small funerary buildings constructed between the second half of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s in the Campo Verano cemetery in Rome. This is a readily circumscribed area referring to the relationship between architecture and writing in Western culture and the use of the Latin alphabet, mostly with capital letters, for the necessary specifics that such a study entails. The area is limited, but is functional for investigating the relationship between architecture and writing. Through the means of graphical/geometrical analysis, it has allowed a useful method of investigation to be developed to understand this architectural heritage, which is extremely interesting but particularly complex to decipher.

Visual technologies and virtual restoration the Foro Mussolini (1939-1941) by Oriolo Frezzotti in Littoria, Latina (Italy).

Enhancement of the cultural heritage is not simply a matter of preserving material objects but comes full circle only when the heritage can be enjoyed and used by the community. This is the rationale behind this presentation: the application to exploring projects for the building complex of Foro Mussolini in Littoria (now Latina), by the architect Oriolo Frezzotti. Starting with consistent iconographic documentation integrated with bibliographic research and comparison with similar cases, the historical process was retraced and interpreted, reconstructed three-dimensional hypotheses of the figural unity were formulated, and interactive application was created. The application refers to the area of “virtual restoration”, the only possibility for non-material histories and works, a field in which visual technologies can prolong the critical “eye” to which recomposition of the figural combination is entrusted.