by MARIA ANTONIETTA GERMANO –
VITERBO – At Palazzo dei Priori, in the Sala Regia, an extraordinary International Culture and Training Seminar involving 16 nations and 4 continents entitled “Beauty and the Built landscape” will be held as preparation for the International Congress of Urban Planning scheduled for 2025. The Viterbo conference was presented to the press this morning.
Why in Viterbo? Because Viterbo proposes itself as the European Capital of Culture 2030 and therefore we need to start immediately by going beyond the borders and drawing attention to the architectural structure of our beautiful city, the planning of which has never been of great interest. Today the debate has restarted, it is important that we talk about it, as long as it is of a high level. This is why this special event was organised.
Know, know, value. The concept of Beauty is inherent in our territory rich in historic monuments and magnificent gardens. On the cover of the poster of the Seminar there is a reference to the ‘city without a name’ whose plan Gordon Cullen uses on the first page of his book “The urban landscape, serial visions” which is in fact a real city, none other than the seventeenth-century village of San Martino al Cimino, a hamlet of Viterbo.
The Seminar which takes place over two days (June 20th in Italian and 21st in English), partly in person and partly via video connection, therefore focuses on Beauty because beauty is substance, it is a value that generates economy and tourism.
At the presentation curated by the architect Emanuele Aronne, councilor for the quality of urban spaces, the mayor Chiara Frontini intervened to offer institutional greetings. The importance of this event was explained by Giorgio Saraconi, president of the provincial order of architects and Danilo Pasquini, architect and organizer of the seminar. Councilor Maria Rita De Alexandris was also at the speakers’ table.
