Gae Aulenti: A Defense Against Harsh Criticism

Vincenzo Latina defends Gae Aulenti against what he sees as unfair and reductive criticism, particularly from Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi and an Artribune article that labeled her the worst Italian architect. Latina recalls Aulenti's last public appearance on October 16, 2012, when she received the Gold Medal for Career Achievement alongside Maria Giuseppina Grasso Cannizzo and Vittorio Gregotti. The following day, Puglisi published a provocative article in Edilizia e Territorio del Sole 24 Ore, comparing Gregotti to D'Alema and Aulenti to Rosy Bindi. Latina criticizes the Artribune article from August 7, 2018, which ranked Aulenti as the worst architect, arguing it ignores her international stature as the first Italian woman architect recognized in Europe. He highlights her pioneering reuse of historic buildings like Palazzo Grassi and the Musée d'Orsay, her thirty-year collaboration with director Luca Ronconi producing at least sixteen theatrical scenographies, and her iconic design objects like the Pipistrello lamp. Latina also recounts an anecdote where upon arriving in Paris after winning the competition for the Musée d'Orsay, she was asked where the architect was, as they assumed she was his wife. He quotes her famous remark: 'Architecture is a man's job, but I always pretended nothing happened.'