Nani Valle and Giorgio Bellavitis were the first to develop operational methodologies, active ‘in the field’, in the restoration of Venetian buildings: the monuments and the so-called ‘minor buildings’, combining the practice of architecture with constant historical-urban research translated into the numerous publications of Giorgio Bellavitis and in the teaching of Nani Valle at the University Institute of Architecture in Venice.

The exhibition presents a part of their projects dedicated to Venice, with only two significant exceptions, the collaboration with Franco Basaglia for the recovery of the psychiatric hospital in Trieste and the completion of the Sala Ajace in Udine, an unfinished project by an important Art Nouveau architect, Raimondo D’Aronco and also intends to exhibit, with a certain divertissement, their common versatility, the juvenile experiences of Giorgio Bellavitis on comics, as well as their experimental capacity in the field of design, still possible in a city at the time very generous in the offer of artisan skills, blacksmiths, carpenters, glassmakers, which made it possible to create any project. The exhibited materials come from Iuav Projects’ Archive and Anna Bellavitis Archive.

--

The activities of Studio Bellavitis & Valle, located in Campo dei Frari in Venice since 1967, concerned various areas, from the design of hospitals to the design of lamps and armchairs, but a very important part, on which we want to focus in the exhibition, concerns the restoration practices in Venice. Since the early 1960s, the “problem of Venice” has been a constant concern in the approach of Nani Valle and Giorgio Bellavitis. The materials on display testify to the activity of recovering minor or industrial buildings for residential purposes, such as noble palaces, headquarters of public and private institutions. The practice of architecture is accompanied by constant research on historical-urban planning, which translates into numerous publications, such as the books by Giorgio Bellavitis: Palazzo Giustinian Pesaro (1974), Venice (1980), Arsenale. History of a large urban structure (1983) and in the teaching of Nani Valle at the University Institute of Architecture, as well as in the constant, and often controversial, presence in the debate around the future of the city.

After the death of Nani Valle, the activity of the Studio continued in the name of Giorgio Bellavitis and, in 1995, Bellavitis Associati Architetti was created, with architects Riccardo Gaggia, Marco Lazzari and Diego Zanardo and with professor Giorgio Baffo. In 1998 the statute was modified following the death of the architect Gaggia and, in 2002, architect Loretta Zamparutti entered in the studio. The studio closed in 2004.