Alfonso Femia on Transformation: From Varano to Avignon, Palmi, Trieste, and Latina

Architect Alfonso Femia, founder of Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia, discusses his firm's approach to architecture as a tool for giving meaning to fragile places. The new headquarters of Fondazione Caterina Dallara in Varano de' Melegari, a converted barn, embodies this dialogic architecture. In Avignon, Villa Créative—a collaboration with DLAA Architectes—reopened on May 27 after a renovation started in 2022, transforming a former teacher training school into a hub bridging academia and creative industries. The project includes a public garden, an auditorium, and flexible ground-floor spaces. In Italy, Femia is working on the Lungomare Tonnara in Palmi, Calabria, a coastal regeneration project aiming to reduce impermeable surfaces from 90% to 60%, with completion expected by 2026. The Parco Lineare in Trieste, also due by 2026, will create a new urban ecosystem along the waterfront. In Latina, Femia has proposed a long-term (20–30 year) regeneration of the historic center, centered on water as a regenerative element, with an estimated cost of €70 million. Femia was a candidate to curate the Italian Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale; his proposed theme was 'mutazione' (mutation), exploring how crises and transformations can yield positive outcomes.