The International Call: Italian Design, Culture, Politics and Economics at the 1972 MoMA Exhibition and Beyond

The exhibition Italy: The New Domestic Landscape has represented a turning point in the construction of the Italian architectural culture of the 20 th century. This paper argues that the success of the event was not just due to the clever supervision of Emilio Ambasz and to being staged in one of the most influential global stages for the promotion of new design trends. The exhibition was one of the few occasions where politics entered into the push to export Italian design culture in the second half of 20 th century. Based on archival research conducted at the MoMA archive, Archivio Centrale dello Stato in Rome, the ENI Archive, the Centro Storico FIAT and the Archivio Storico Olivetti, this paper casts light on the key role that Italian public and private sponsors have played in providing cohesive national support around the global spread of Italian design at and beyond the 1972 MoMA exhibition.