A dialogue with history

Incorporated in an international book of essays reflecting on Pietro Porcinai's work, the contribution specifically explores his dialogue with history and temporal dimension in landscape practice. In his dual professional identities as landscape architect and researcher-“archaeologist”, Pietro Porcinai continually interrogated his relationship with history and the classical concept of arché. Both seem to have been an essential part of his education and both can be found in virtually every aspect of his work. His interest in these relationships informed his systematic study of the historical, symbolic, and philosophical origins of the landscape and supported his attempts to adapt their core concepts to the modern situation. Porcinai has been recognized internationally as an innovator and designer of revolutionary gardens who was able to employ—without the restrictive burden of history—features, forms, or tools drawn from the Italian cultural tradition. In the words of the British landscape architect Geoffrey Jellicoe: while completely absorbed in the classical world, and employing its basic concepts, Porcinai had confidently entered the twentieth century.