Giuseppe Samonà: The Architect as Master Strategist

Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi profiles Giuseppe Samonà (1898–1983), a Sicilian architect and pivotal figure in Italian architecture. Samonà built the IUAV in Venice into a world-class school, recruiting Bruno Zevi, Ignazio Gardella, Franco Albini, Luigi Piccinato, Giovanni Astengo, and Manfredo Tafuri. He was a skilled political operator: joining the Fascist Party in 1933, resigning as IUAV director in 1943 to avoid the Republic of Salò, then being confirmed by the Allied military government in 1945. He later became a Senator for the Independent Left (1972–1976). His key works include the 1933 Appio post office in Rome, the INAIL building in Venice (1951–1961, with Egle Trincanato), and the unfinished double-auditorium theater in Sciacca (1974). The INAIL building is praised as a masterful response to Venetian context through color and chiaroscuro, while the Sciacca theater is criticized as anti-contextual. Samonà's style evolved from rationalist-monumental to modernist, influenced by Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Bruno Zevi's organic architecture.