A great architect: Giovanni Michelucci

You don’t need to be an architecture enthusiast to understand the value and skill embodied in Giovanni Michelucci’s projects. In Florence and the surrounding cities there are numerous examples of his urban interventions. Originally from Pistoia, Michelucci was an urban planner, an engraver and one of the greatest architects of the 20th century.

Born in 1891, in 1911 he graduated from the Istituto Superiore di Architettura and quickly gained recognition thanks to his many projects. Among others, he worked on the construction of Santa Maria Novella railway station and the adjoining Palazzina Reale in Florence, for which he won the contest launched in 1932 with Gruppo Toscano.

When the war ended in 1945 Michelucci was among the group of architects who rebuilt Ponte alle Grazie, which, like all the other bridges of Florence (except for Ponte Vecchio) had been destroyed  by retreating Nazi forces in 1944. 

In the area around Ponte Vecchio where most of the houses had been blown up, he designed, in 1954, an “L”-shaped building with an inner courtyard, commissioned by INA society. 

During his long life (he died in 1990, just two days before his 100th birthday) Michelucci frequently collaborated with the Municipality of Florence. He transformed the Limonaia of Villa Strozzi into a multipurpose space for contemporary art. The project was completed and inaugurated in the summer of 1998 and the Limonaia has since become a venue for many cultural events. 

The palace housing the Cassa di Risparmio in via Bufalini, in Florence, was built at the end of the 16th century, not far from Palazzo Pucci. A reorganization of the spaces of the Cassa di Risparmio was commissioned to Michelucci in 1953. On March 25, 1954, the feast of the Annunciation, the first stone of the new building was laid.

Clearly visible from highway A11, there’s a church dedicated to San Giovanni Battista, commonly known as the Church of the Highway. It was commissioned by the Autostrade Company in memory of the workers who fell at work in the construction of the Autostrada del Sole. The church was built between 1960 and 1964, based on a design by Giovanni Michelucci and is considered a masterpiece of modern architecture. Its configuration evokes the image of a tent, symbolizing the mobility of the People of God.

Just outside Florence, on the hills of Fiesole, Michelucci fully expressed his creativity in designing Villa il Roseto, where he spent the last years of his life. The villa has since become the seat of the Foundation that bears his name. It houses Michelucci’s archive and hosts numerous seminars, guided tours and meetings dedicated to the great architect.