Grand Tour #1

• Milano
• Bologna
• Cesena

Milan - Bologna

On January 12-13, 2024, the first Grand Tour took place in Italy, with participation from all the universities involved in the project (UNIBO, POLIMI, FAUP, AUTH, LMA, EKA). The UNIBO team designed an itinerary focusing on some of the main contemporary Italian architectures, starting from Udine and traveling through the entire peninsula, ending in Capri. GT1 covered some of the planned stops, such as the Campus of the University of Bologna in Cesena by Vittorio Gregotti, the School Campus in Pesaro by Carlo Aymonino, and the San Cataldo Cemetery by Aldo Rossi.
Partners from Portugal, Greece, Latvia, and Estonia stayed overnight on January 11 in Bologna at hotels recommended by the UNIBO team, which were affiliated with the university and located in the city's historic center. The following day, the first in-person meeting with all the project partners took place at the Cesena Campus. After a reception, also organized by the UNIBO team, the group headed to the Pesaro Campus and from there to Urbino, visiting its historic center and the Palazzo Ducale. The selection of this palace, now converted into the National Gallery of the Marche, was particularly due to the presence of the painting of the Città ideale, a symbol of the Italian Renaissance dating back to the late 15th century.
The next day, the itinerary continued with the San Cataldo Cemetery and then the city of Parma. Here, particular attention was given to the historic center, the Teatro Farnese located inside the monumental complex of the Pilotta, and the Piazza del Duomo, Baptistery, and Episcopal Palace. A tour of the CSAC – Centro Studi e Archivio delle Comunicazioni dell’Università di Parma, located in the ancient abbey of Valserena and containing a large amount of original material on various topics, including the 10 Grand Tourists chosen by the teams from Bologna and Milan, was then held. The first Staff Training session was also conducted here, focusing on acquiring skills in managing and sharing archival data, both digital and physical, with a particular focus on the Italian Grand Tourists of the UpGranT project.
The itinerary then passed through the cities of Bologna, Cesena, Pesaro, Urbino, Modena, and Parma, continuing in the following days to Milan with a tour organized by the Politecnico di Milano. It should be noted that this route is only part of the Italian Grand Tour conceived by the University of Bologna, which would include various other examples of contemporary Italian architecture, such as the Town Hall of Osoppo by Luciano Semerani, the Sports Center of Trento by Renato Rizzi, the headquarters of the Faculty of Engineering in Bologna by Giuseppe Vaccaro, the Florence railway station by Giovanni Michelucci, the EUR district of Rome, a residence in Naples by Francesco Venezia, and Casa Malaparte in Capri by Adalberto Libera, as well as the historic centers and main monuments of the aforementioned cities.
The Grand Tour organized by the University of Bologna team thus traverses a significant part of Italy and touches on some of the main architectures of the 20th century. An effort was made to select buildings that intertwine the theme of travel with the 10 Grand Tourists of the UpGranT project. For example, the EUR district of Rome and Casa Malaparte in Capri were chosen because they particularly influenced John Quentin Hejduk, leading him to write the well-known article Casa come me, published by Domus in 1980. A similar argument could be made for the other authors and chosen cases, providing future participants in this Italian Grand Tour with the tools to understand how travel represents an important generative means of memories and ideas useful for creative and design activities in the architectural field.
Once GT1 concluded, the Bologna team collected the produced material (photos, videos, sketches, etc.) and organized a virtual exhibition held at the multipurpose room of the Cesena Campus in September 2024.