The book describes the figure of Ernesto Basile in the context of the European stylistic revolution that saw the establishment of a new vision of architecture that communicates with nature.
Basile is a contemporary of Victor Horta, Gaudi, Mackintosh, Otto Wagner and the other architects, painters, sculptors and decorators who were protagonists of the renewal of architectural culture at the turn of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Basile’s modernity is revealed with the construction of the villa Florio, the first piece of architecture in Liberty style to appear in Italy. This was created in Palermo, rather than in Milan or Turin. Villa Florio was soon sided by the Villa Igiea complex, started in 1899 and completed a year later also in its impressive interior furnishings.
The large hotel is still admired today by visitors for its fine decoration for its aerial architecture, characterized by a velvety and sensual polychromy. Behind this work original design by Basile, who used a light and extraordinary hand, inspired by the great European painting.
Son of the architect Giovan Battista Filippo Basile, after graduating in architecture from the Royal Application School for Engineers and Architects in 1878, Ernesto assisted his father in important assignments. In 1890 he succeeded his father on the university chair, and after his death (1891), completed the most important work of nineteenth century Palermo: the Teatro Massimo. He started a collaboration with painter Ettore De Maria Bergler, who, with Vittorio Ducrot, would be key figures of the Liberty season in Palermo.
He continued to work in his hometown throughout his life, designing public buildings and private villas, carrying out various assignments at the same time in different places in Sicily and southern Italy. He also maintained relationships with Rome, where he erected several mansions and built the new wing of the Lower House of the Italian Parliament (1902 - 1927).
His career as an architect in Palermo includes: Villa Igiea (1899 - 1900), Villa Florio dell'Olivuzza (1899 - 1900 ), Utveggio house (1901 - 1903), villa Fassini (1903 - now destroyed), Basile cottage (1903 -1904). Basile was also very active as regards participation in numerous exhibitions, both as a designer of architectural pavilions, and in interiors and furnishings, having started in 1902 a partnership with the firm Ducrot of Palermo, together with sculptor Antonio Ugo. In 1902 Basile is in Turin, in 1906 in Milan, in 1909 in Messina (where he created several works for the reconstruction of the city after the disastrous earthquake of 1908 that buried under the debris as many as 100,000 people of Messina), in 1911 in Rome, from 1903 to 1909 at the Venice Biennale, and in 1914 in Reggio Calabria.
His studies were devoted to architecture in Sicily, in particular the Arab-Norman and Renaissance (characteristics of Sicily) streams, which combines the knowledge of the most innovative artistic experiments and European architectural era.

In the second Biennale of Architecture, at the Italian Pavilion, an overview on Architecture of Islamic Countries after World War II is proposed.
Venice thus becomes an observatory on the state of architecture in the region comprised between India and Morocco, returning to be a crossroads and a space for dialogue and exchange between East and West, and anticipating what will prove to be a burning issue in subsequent years.
In his introduction to the book, Paolo Portoghesi (director of the Architecture section of the Venice Biennale) points out that, by the end of the nineteenth century, the influence of Islamic culture in literature, art and architecture in particular "Western", involving characters such as Gaudi, Wright and Le Corbusier. To the coldness and self-reference of modernist standards, is opposed the attention to the environmental context, the spiritual component and the fundamental social purpose of the Islamic architecture.
The exhibition presents a series of projects in progress or completed, in which local traditions coexist with the most advanced construction technologies. Particular emphasis is given to the work of Hassan Fathy, a leading figure of the young generation of Egyptian designers.
A section of the book edited by Salvo Lo Nardo and Antonio De Bonis, describes the influence of Islamic architecture in medieval Sicily. Monographic exhibitions are also organised that pay homage to some personalities who engaged with Islamic architecture, including Fernand Pouillon and Louis Kahn, with a series of sketches for several centers in India and Pakistan, and two projects by Le Corbusier for the cities of Algiers and Chandigarh. On the sidelines, the second edition of the Architecture Biennale presents proposals for the restoration and reuse of some ancient building complexes.

Since the beginning of his work as an architect, the ideological reasons which led Basile to actively engage in the struggle for national unity merged with a Giobertian romantic religiousness, also inspired by Ruskin’s conception of a typically Christian architectural message to bring back to actuality mystical and social values.
This ideology, on the other hand, came into conflict with the classicist education he had received, adding also a vivid sense of freedom that was successfully expressed in all his neo-classical works, and particularly in the Teatro Massimo of Palermo (1864).
Through his strong botanical culture, received by Basile from Vincenzo Tineo in the Gymnasium of the Botanical Garden of Palermo - which would dictate geometric and decorative structures of his architecture - Basile carried out his first works inspired by Sicilian-Norman architecture in a romantic key (cemeteries of Caltagirone and Monreale, 1853); in the project for a Museum in Athens (1859), the anxiety of cultural renewal which based on his experiences led him to develop a new typology based on an indefinite growth of the organism.
In 1864 he took part in the competition for the Teatro Massimo of Palermo, for which he won the first prize in 1868; he had to stop its construction, begun in 1875, for local jealousies and which were resumed only in 1890. For new arguments, the works were interrupted again: it was his son Ernesto to complete the work, keeping his father's design’s free neoclassical language, translated in the definition of the new distribution-functional links introduced in the building.
After participating with Ernesto in the competition for the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II in Rome (1877), Basile in 1878 designed the façade of the Italian pavilion at the Universal Exhibition in Paris, and in 1889 began the construction of the Villa Favaloro (today Di Stefano) in Palermo, in which are expressed with renewed formal language its ideological motives.
The villa Favaloro represents the culmination of his thought, in overcoming the styling, albeit refined, of its previous works; the yet traditional means adopted, in fact, imply however, the vision of a new figurative ideal that expresses Basile’s deep adherence to the romantic-nationalistic myth of freedom.

The book recounts a "work in progress" exhibition on the works carried out in Villa Napoli, and intends to show the willingness to accomplish a project of great cultural significance, made possible after the acquisition of the monumental complex by the Regional Administration of Cultural Heritage.
The Cuba Soprana or Cubula in fact represent significant examples of the civil architecture that the Norman kings wished to create within the large "Paradise on Earth", a park full of symbolic cosmopolitan values which represented one of the most interesting experiments, on a territorial scale, in terms of botanical gardens created in Middle Ages in Europe.
The restoration and enhancement of a fragment of memory of the ancient Genoardo, along with the recovery of the remains of the Cubula and the Cuba Soprana incorporated in Villa Napoli, over a short period will allow to place this monumental complex in the cultural circuit of the Sicilian capital, and in particular, in the Norman itinerary, which is one of the most significant element for stimulating regional tourism.
The "work in progress" exhibition is a useful intermediate step to divulgate the work, studies and archaeological research conducted in the first batch of interventions that have allowed to focus on interesting similarities between the Cuba Soprana, the Cubula and the great Cuba, now possible as a result of the important discoveries made.
Further works are already underway with a second batch of interventions, as well as further developing the research conducted so far, will allow, through a more complete archaeological excavation and architectural samplings, to integrate the acquired skills and test compositional and structural hypotheses that continue to emerge from the worksite.

The name of Mario Francese martyr of legality, must be unanimously considered a precious symbol, a general reference model.
In the book, Francese is described through many of his articles. No one like him, with his remarkable prophetic ability, was able to draw consistent mafia scenarios, which proved to be true after many years.
He was a visionary, in the highest and positive sense of the term. He saw things in advance, an extraordinary gift, probably unique, he paid for with his life.
However Mario Francese is not dead, he lives by his example in everyone's heart, flag of one category - the journalists - in breathless identity crisis, divided and torn apart on the inside, more than ever thoughtful of their own future, but still capable of a burst of pride. A reference model for sure today and forever, so that the curse of forgetfulness do not prevail on memory ever lived.

(Taken from the preface by Bent Parodi)

The disqualification and degradation of our cities, overwhelmed by the expansion of the territory and the abandonment of monuments, revealed the interest of communities for the redevelopment of the artistic heritage.
Along this path the municipality of Monreale took action, launching a series of interventions for the enhancement of monuments. In this framework is comprised the recovery of the fountains present along the axis that connects Palermo to Monreale. The monuments, as well as playing an intrinsic value of their historic and artistic, are emblematic of the Baroque culture of the area.
The Fountain of the Dragon, made in 1767 by Ignazio Marabitti, emerges as a dramatic/theatrical machine that characterizes the late Baroque; similar, albeit on a smaller scale, the Fontana ad Emiciclo wanted in 1773 by the Archbishop of Monreale Francesco Testa. A description apart is deserved by the Fontana a Edicola (1665) characterized by seventeenth-century forms.
The restoration of this set of monuments, anticipating the entrance to the cathedral of Monreale and in particular of William II’d dome, helped to liven up the cultural environment of the Norman city.

Throughout human history, different cultures have had a common attitude in which myths bind the nature to gods, giving the plant kingdom a mystical and magical aspect; not surprisingly, for centuries plants have had a medicinal role for humans, also covering a prodigious role of antidote, of Pharmaca, against disease and against the same passage of time.
Along this line, the Italian medieval monastic garden (hortus simplicium), a place where the curative and medicinal aspects of plants are investigated, availed itself only of the "pharmacological" component, where the care and growth of plants, the search for their essence, was only aimed at healing the body and soul of men.
The medical art of that time founded its roots in the teachings of the medical school of Matteo Silvatico in Salerno, which gave to the “simple ones” the primacy of the human body care.
The overcoming of this conception and the birth of a new Botanical science seen as independent of Medicine, is through the study of Carl Von Linnè, who, in 1758, brings in a new vision of the world through his Systema naturae, a scientific publication that classifies according to a specific order, the animal kingdom and the plant kingdom.
The Linnean theory represents an absolute breakthrough in the field of botany and is to be added, in the Age of Enlightenment, to the greatest scientific discoveries of the time, alongside the artistic productions and major social transformations. In particular, Linnaeus’s studies belong to that line of Enlightenment naturalism which sees in human reasoning the right tool to learn about and "govern" nature.
From the introduction of Linnaeus’s System comes the new science of botany, distinct from medicine, and from this the idea of building new and modern places of botany, useful progress, places of learning, experimentation and dissemination of the new discipline.
In Europe, the advent of Linnaeus’s theories caused the transformation of many botanical structures of ancient tradition (that of Padua for example), while still retaining the original spaces, building and systems. In this context the prince of Caramanico, Viceroy of the Kingdom of Sicily and illuminated Freemason, in 1789 called the French Lèon Dufourny to create a new and modern Botanical Garden in Palermo.
The new Botanical Garden can be considered the first in Europe as a real and new institution for learning and teaching of botany, symbolically marking the end of an old-fashioned scientific system, linked to the world of superstition and magic.

What is most striking, looking carefully at the photographs from the exhibition "Architecture and Light" by Giovanni Pepi, is to see how the experience of such an important professional of communication, is transferred almost magically in his art, in his works.
Spontaneity, but at the same time ongoing research with an extraordinary technique and final result, which make us reflect on his creations inserted into the seven thematic sections that follow one another in the course of the exhibition.
The photographic work of Giovanni Pepi is the result of a strong commitment and of a peculiar study, becomes unique and original, and capable of producing curiosity and excitement.
Pepi not only has an eye that thinks, Pepi has an eye capable of grasping something that makes people think. It is art that triggers thought, which moves the synapses of the mind and goes through its indefiniteness, in a dimension whose contours are not perceived, but which captures the different possibilities of understanding. A dimension in which every essence can be itself and self-denial at the same time.

The book recounts the guiding idea of the restoration project of the courtyard east of the architectural complex, once a convent of San Silvestro in Capite.
In particular, it explains the theme of restoration and the innovative elements that consist of the creative coexistence of historical and monumental values with contemporary inlays, careful not to betray the values of the past. From the first design studies designers worked with the objective of achieving modern facilities to the staff of the Presidency of the Council without altering the values of the architectural structure.
A criterion of dynamic protection that preserves the unique history of Rome. A city that increasingly manifests the urgency to weld two main instances: the protection of artistic and monumental heritage and the need for a radical renewal, especially for issues related to service creation of modern design, technology and plant engineering, not for Finally, the aspects related to urban mobility.

To distract himself from the anguish of news that takes daily, Giovanni Pepi takes refuge, whenever he can, in his old passion for photography. It would seem the central character of a thriller or a novel by Sciascia or Buzzati. And there is something in the character of a literary journalist who looks for the antidote to the obsession of the real world just in that art whose excellence is exactly in the reproduction of reality. The fact is that through the small viewfinder of his first camera that young Pepi soon realised that an objective, in spite of its name, it is never impartial. The unfaithful lens of the camera gives the photographer the power to entrap the world through unexpected metamorphosis through which can be play even the invisible reality that hides itself constantly before our eyes.
(From the presentation by Giuseppe Tornatore).

The last decades have been characterized by a rapid increase in developed areas, which has not only led to the gradual saturation of the Italian territory, but also led to an increasing degradation of the environment and the landscape. In this book, characterized by multi-disciplinary approach, experts from different disciplines examine the trends in place in urbanization, contextualizing the evolution of the regulatory framework, the tensions and the correlations between building pressure, environmental risks, the financial needs of municipalities and urban planning tools. The analysis shows that it is possible to move towards a new urbanism, pursuing the reduction of land consumption, the recovery of a virtuous role of local authorities, as well as the involvement of individuals in a context marked by a recaptured governance capacity by the public authorities. All these goals are achievable, provided that the actors involved in this process are fully convinced of such cultural turn, centered on the redevelopment and reuse of brownfield sites such and run-down urban outskirts, and implemented by means of consistent public policies related to the definition of appropriate incentives to encourage urban regeneration.

This new book, edited by the Cultural Association "Odradek XXI" of Brescia, stands as an attempt to recap the theoretical and practical experience of "awakening", a series of diagonal cuts on the present, polyhedral rearrangements of the same object - the polis - which we live in and which lives in ourselves, in the vortex of a crisis that overwhelms actors, institutions, policies.
If three years ago the emphasis was on political-social action, now the attention tends to focus on the ontological and epistemological constellations of that action. If there, the gesture of the sower was halfway between the witness and the pedagogical-civil, here it is what the communicational pulse of intersubjective consciences, awakened, the exchange of the reasons which led him to overthrow dialectically the current 'state of exception', at least a-democratic, in a ethos that is transformer, marked by the idea of justice to come that never ceases to consult us. The plural critical reflection wants to be a political act of living the exchange of diverse energies that emanate, which many tend to proclaim loudly scattered or on the run. In this perspective must be placed the four parts of the volume-constellations (I - Polysemy of living, II - processuality training, III - Variables of the agora, IV-residential tensions of the city) and the beginning of what problematizations and beginning of answers that the working research group of Odradek XXI - before, during and after the 2011 conference - sought to keep alive in a persistent collective thinking: what contribution may have given the polis my search path, subjective and intersubjective, with disciplinarity open and abductive approach circularity 'accomplish-abstract-accomplish...' - for a more just social community and a more livable one? The recurring theme in itself reflective and prognostic, is given by critic-utopic tension (see the constellation of quotes from Calvino's Invisible Cities embedding the individual parts of the book) between diverse theoretical perspectives of the individual contributions, both for methods and for points of view, and a common understanding imbricated in active citizenship, at the same time constituted and constituent. Among the various authors in the book, a contribution of Salvo Lo Nardo is on the theme of Urban and Environmental planning, outlining possible scenarios for the future of Italian cities.