Camillo Botticini: An Italian Architect Looking Abroad

Camillo Botticini (born 1965) emerged as an architect in the early 1990s, a period when Italy experienced a resurgence in architecture driven by international figures like Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, and Daniel Libeskind, a booming global economy, and the post-Tangentopoli political cleanup that opened public commissions to young architects through competitions. Botticini, a graduate of Politecnico di Milano (1990), initially worked on cemetery expansions in provincial towns such as San Gallo and Bagnolo Mella, building a reputation through word of mouth. His rigorous rationalist training, influenced by Le Corbusier, led him to seek escape in minimalism and Spanish architecture, particularly the work of Luis Mansilla and Emilio Tuñón, about whom he wrote a book in 2003. He later formed partnerships, including ARW with Matteo Facchinelli (founded 2016). A 2019 monograph by LIStLab highlights their work, which the author argues is rooted in the professional tradition of 1950s-60s Italian architecture rather than theoretical posturing. Botticini's recent projects show an increasing focus on environmental sustainability, exemplified by a villa in the Alps at 700 meters altitude near Passo del Cavallo, which balances transparency and opacity, openness and closure, and uses ventilated wall cladding for sustainability. The article is part of Artribune's 'Architetti d’Italia' series and was written by Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi.