He published several books and essays dealing with the economic, social and cultural circumstances and conditions of urban development, and the use of the ancient
town in the framework of metropolitan development. These issues were also the primary focus of his professional and academic work, where restoration and planning of historical towns and
environmental systems prevail. He was especially interested in the relationship between
archaeology and the modern city; he proposed solutions for the correct (re)use of ancient towns that included traffic restriction,
pedestrianization, and restoration. Some of these have been implemented by
municipal governments, particularly in
Rome.[1]
Biography
Born in Turin in 1929, at age five he and his family moved to Rome. His father
Filadelfo, a university teacher, ranked amongst the few who introduced the
financial and
actuarial science in
Italy. His elder brother Delfino was editorial director at Zanichelli publisher in the 1970s and 1980s; his sister Melina, high-school teacher, wrote a number of grammar books (
Italian,
Latin and
ancient Greek).
In 1953, Insolera graduated from
La Sapienza University, Rome, with a degree in
Architecture. He became a licensed architect in 1954, and qualified for university teaching in
urbanism in 1960. Meanwhile, he had married Anna Maria Bozzola (architect, in the early 1960s was the author of a book series on
arts education which became a reference in the freshly reformed Italian lower
secondary school); she would be his partner during all his life. In 1962, he published Roma moderna. Un secolo di storia urbanistica (Modern Rome: A Century of Urban History), the first book dealing with urban planning and management in Rome from the
unification of Italy to the present. The book has subsequently gone through six editions, with the most recent published in 2011.
During his tenure in
Geneva, he founded and was for four years at the head of the Centre de Recherche sur la Rénovation Urbaine (Research Centre on Urban Renovation),[2] sponsored by the
Swiss National Science Foundation.
Insolera also long played a leading role in numerous environmental battles over landscape conservation and protection, as well as urban architectural heritage protection and revitalization.
He died of natural causes at age 83 in his house in
Monteverde, Rome at dawn on August 27, 2012.[3] Italian urban planners deeply mourn his passing.[4]
Since 2003, all of Insolera's professional documents, designs, photos and writings have been deemed of public interest and protected by the
Italian Superintendence of Archives [
it].
1969 – 1970 Coordinated Building Programmes for the communes of
Dorgali,
Orosei,
Siniscola (Province of Nuoro, Sardinia; joint work)
1973 – 1978 General Master Plan for the commune of
Leghorn (Tuscany)
1988 – 1996 General Master Plan for the commune of
Pitigliano (Province of Grosseto, Tuscany; joint work)
1989 – 1994 General Master Plan for the commune of
Correggio (Province of Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna; joint work)
1997 – 1999 Structural Plan for
Lucca (Tuscany, joint work).
Parks and urban districts
1957
it:INA-Casa District (public housing) at
Syracuse Santa Panagia (Sicily, joint work)
1958
it:INA-Casa District (public housing) at
Naples Soccavo (joint work)
1962
it:INA-Casa District (public housing) at
Caserta (Campania; joint work)
1971 - 1978 Public housing district at
San Vincenzo (Province of Leghorn, Tuscany; joint work)
1980 - 1981 Special Plans (in Italian: "Piani Particolareggiati") for
Castagneto Carducci (Province of Leghorn, Tuscany; joint work)
1982 - 1984 Plans for Productive Zones (tourist resorts; in Italian: PIP, "Piani per Insediamenti Produttivi") at
Piombino (Province of Leghorn, Tuscany; joint work)
1988 Feasibility Plan for
Gabii Archaeological Park (Rome; joint work)
2005 Project for a
Natural Park and Farm Restoration at
San Vincenzo (Province of Leghorn, Tuscany; appointing body: Rimigliano ltd; joint work).
Consultancies
1965 Ministry of Public Works (now
Ministry for Infrastructure and Transports), Committee for provisions to be adopted on tree-lined roads in order to ensure traffic safety and natural values protection
1996 “La Pievaccia” Tower at
Follonica (Province of Grosseto, Tuscany; joint work)
2000-2001 Poderi Stalloni at
Suvereto (Tuscany): ancient farmhouses to be reused as hostels and function-room for Parchi Val di Cornia Inc. (joint work).
Exhibitions
1997: Via Appia-Sulle rovine della magnificenza antica (
Appian Way – Amidst the ruins of the ancient splendour), Memmo Foundation, Ruspoli Palace, Rome; layout project
In collaboration with the
Granet Museum, Aix-en-Provence (France):
1996: Paesaggi perduti-Granet a Roma 1802-1824 (Lost Landscapes –
Granet in Rome 1802-1824),
American Academy in Rome, Scientific Committee
2000: Alla ricerca della luce-I pittori di Aix-en-Provence dal XVIII al XX Secolo (Searching for Light – The Painters from
Aix-en-Provence from 18th to 20th Centuries), Municipality of
Perugia, Palace of Penna; curator of both exhibition and catalogue
2000-2001: Frondose arcate. Il Colosseo prima dell'archeologia (Leafy Arcades – The
Coliseum before Archaeology),
Rome's Archaeological Superintendence [
it], Altemps Palace, project, layout and catalogue
2002-2003: Roma tra le due guerre (Rome between the two Wars),
Museo di Roma in Trastevere and House of Architecture,
Rome; project and layout (with A.M. Sette)
2002-2003: Dall'Augusteo all'Auditorium (From the Augusteum to the Auditorium), for the opening of the new
Auditorium “Parco della Musica”, Rome; project, layout and catalogue (with A.M. Sette).
Competitions and competitive examinations
1955 Spatial layout of the “Valletta di Belfiore” area,
Mantua (Lombardy; joint work): 1st prize equal
1955 Establishment of designers-architects teams for
it:INA-Casa (public housing programme): qualified
La villa Huffer, una dimora romana dell'Ottocento (The Huffer Villa: a 19th Century Roman Mansion), Roma, Istituto Italiano di Credito Fondiario, 1991 (joint work)
In via delle Muratte. Un edificio e l'intorno nella storia di Roma (Down Muratte Street: a Building and its Neighbourhood in the History of
Rome), Roma, Ed. Mediocredito di Roma, 1993 (joint work)
Roma e il Giubileo del secondo Millennio (
Rome and the
Second Millennium Jubilee), Roma, Ed. Mediocredito di Roma, 1995 (joint work)
Paesaggi perduti, Granet a Roma 1802 – 1824, American Academy in Rome (Lost Landscapes –
Granet in Rome 1802-1824,
American Academy in Rome), Roma, Electa, 1996 (contribution to the catalogue),
ISBN88-435-5894-3.
Via Appia, Sulle ruine della magnificenza antica (
Appian Way – Amidst the ruins of the ancient splendour), Roma, Leonardo Arte, 1997 (catalogue of the exhibition; joint work),
ISBN88-7813-776-6.
Frondose arcate, Il Colosseo prima dell'archeologia (Leafy Arcades – The
Coliseum before
Archaeology), Roma, Electa, 2000 (catalogue of the exhibition; joint work),
ISBN88-435-7831-6.
Dall'Augusteo all'Auditorium (From the Augusteum to the
Auditorium), Roma, Ed. Musica per Roma, Collana dell’Auditorium no. 1, 2003 (with Alessandra Maria Sette),
ISBN88-900980-3-1.
Modern Rome: From Napoleon to the Twenty-First Century,
Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021 (First English paperback edition, based on the above; editors Lucia Bozzola, Roberto Einaudi and Marco Zumaglini),
ISBN978-1-5275-4795-7.
The Centre de recherche sur la rénovation urbaine (Research Centre on Urban Renovation) published: Atlas du territoire genevois – Permanences et modifications cadastrales aux XIXe et XXe Siècles (
Atlas of
Geneva Territory,
Cadastral Permanencies and Modifications during 19th and 20th Centuries), 7 volumes, Genève, Georg Ed., 1983-1998 (foreword by A.Corboz).[5]
Italian Fund for the Environment (
FAI) Award, 2008.
Writings on Italo Insolera
Elisabetta Reale, Archivi Italo Insolera e Ignazio Guidi (the Archives Italo Insolera and Ignazio Guidi), sheet on "AAA Italia. Bollettino n.9/2010", p. 31-33, May 2010.[8]
Alessandra Valentinelli et al., Italo Insolera fotografo (Italo Insolera photographer), Roma, Palombi Editore, 2017,
ISBN978-88-6060-769-0; the exhibition held at Museo di Roma in Trastevere (11 May-3 September 2017), at
Palazzo Gravina, Faculty of Architecture, Naples (5-19 November 2018) and at Polo del '900, Turin (17 September-18 October 2020).
Notes
^Refer to entry "Insolera Italo" in Chi è. Mille nomi dell'Italia che conta (Who's who. One thousand names of those who matter in Italy), appendix to no. 44 of
L'Espresso, November 1986.