On the foundations of a Land

Although in ruins, the Italian landscape still holds the memories of the events that shaped it. The possibility of operating on a 'field of ruins' and not 'rubble' is — maybe — the only remaining condition of hope for architecture. The reading of two of Paolo Zermani’s works: the Cremation Temple and the School for Europe in Parma, contributes to the investigation of a standpoint and awareness of what makes sense to be done today to try to save the link with our ‘foundations’, rediscovering the vital force of the encounter of the present time with the body of the landscape given to us by those who came before us.