Dalla ricostruzione post-bellica al boom edilizio. Le prime istanze ambientaliste nel contesto della Carta di Venezia

This following essay aims at conveying the main phases of the cultural context evolution that led to the Venice Charter of 1964, stressing, in particular, the aspects related to the conception of the urban and landscape setting protection. Indeed, the shift from the isolated monument, expressed in the Athens Charter of 1931, to the extended idea of the whole urban and territorial defense is the outcome of the European historical events prior to the Charter. Italy was one of the protagonists in the fateful experience of the reconstruction after the world damages of the ’40s, and in the ’50s the major cities, above all Naples, were subjected to the even more nefarious building speculations carried out by ruthless entrepreneurs that changed the urban relationships between historic centers and new additions in terms of masses, volumes, and shapes. In this context, the Italian theorists and critics developed the main theoretical reflections about urban and landscape protection then converged in the main articles of the Venice, starting from the very first that states: «The concept of a historic monument embraces not only the single architectural work but also the urban or rural setting in which is found the evidence of particular civilization, a significant development or a historic event»