Aldo Rossi and the Spirit of Architecture

“Two core issues, both embedded in the European and particularly Italian culture, constantly emerge in the work of Aldo Rossi. Diane Ghirardo enlightens them with particular precision and clarity: the relationship with history, a part of Europeans’ own genetic heritage, and with the city, and the cities of history of which everyone is inevitably heir and continuator.”—Raffaella Neri, The Plan Journal

“A masterpiece of analysis. Ghirardo’s book not only brings Rossi’s work to life, it is itself a demonstration piece of a type of architectural history that is increasingly missed in our day and age: the art of historicizing architecture from the building outward.”—Mark Jarzombek, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

“Diane Ghirardo makes a powerful claim about Rossi’s architectural achievements and artistic identity, locating his religious perspective and baroque sensibility at the root of his originality.”—Giuseppe Mazzotta, Yale University

“Ghirardo’s book is a remarkable account of Rossi’s work as understood through a close reading of the architect’s work and writing. It also serves as an impassioned call for historians to consider architectural projects and related creative output as the primary object of study.”—Lucy M. Maulsby, Northeastern University