Giacomo Lercaro, an Architect among Architects? The Scientific Planning of the “Seconda Bologna” between the 1950s and 1960s.

Giacomo Lercaro’s arrival in Bologna in the spring of 1952 and his appointment as cardinal the following year opened a 15-year period in which the Emilian city was at the center of important initiatives that gained notoriety both nationally and internationally. With regard to urban and architectural...

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Main Author: Giovanni Bellucci
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Bologna 2025-04-01
Series:Histories of Postwar Architecture
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hpa.unibo.it/article/view/20802
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author Giovanni Bellucci
author_facet Giovanni Bellucci
author_sort Giovanni Bellucci
collection DOAJ
description Giacomo Lercaro’s arrival in Bologna in the spring of 1952 and his appointment as cardinal the following year opened a 15-year period in which the Emilian city was at the center of important initiatives that gained notoriety both nationally and internationally. With regard to urban and architectural issues, Cardinal Lercaro was able to use method and planning to set up a meticulous plan that in about 15 years led to the construction of many parish centers and churches. These places of worship, characterized by a highly modern language that until that moment had only very few similar examples in Italy, became new points of reference for the neighborhoods in which they arose, helping to resolve some of the social and aggregative as well as ecumenical problems that characterized those suburbs. The design of those churches was entrusted not only to designers of great fame such as Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Pier Luigi Nervi but also to young architects such as Giuseppe Trebbi or Glauco Gresleri that Lercaro had the intuition to aggregate in a group (Ufficio Nuove Chiese) called to carry out other functions as well. Also important and not to be underestimated were the links created in other European contexts generating a dense network of exchanges and relationships that contributed to increasing the notoriety of Lercaro and the city of Bologna, the object of analysis and a debate that is still current today.
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spelling doaj-art-8b0200be8f4b4a169982f101dd6657cc2025-08-20T03:18:05ZengUniversity of BolognaHistories of Postwar Architecture2611-00752025-04-011429131910.6092/issn.2611-0075/2080219174Giacomo Lercaro, an Architect among Architects? The Scientific Planning of the “Seconda Bologna” between the 1950s and 1960s.Giovanni Bellucci0Università Politecnica delle MarcheGiacomo Lercaro’s arrival in Bologna in the spring of 1952 and his appointment as cardinal the following year opened a 15-year period in which the Emilian city was at the center of important initiatives that gained notoriety both nationally and internationally. With regard to urban and architectural issues, Cardinal Lercaro was able to use method and planning to set up a meticulous plan that in about 15 years led to the construction of many parish centers and churches. These places of worship, characterized by a highly modern language that until that moment had only very few similar examples in Italy, became new points of reference for the neighborhoods in which they arose, helping to resolve some of the social and aggregative as well as ecumenical problems that characterized those suburbs. The design of those churches was entrusted not only to designers of great fame such as Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Pier Luigi Nervi but also to young architects such as Giuseppe Trebbi or Glauco Gresleri that Lercaro had the intuition to aggregate in a group (Ufficio Nuove Chiese) called to carry out other functions as well. Also important and not to be underestimated were the links created in other European contexts generating a dense network of exchanges and relationships that contributed to increasing the notoriety of Lercaro and the city of Bologna, the object of analysis and a debate that is still current today.https://hpa.unibo.it/article/view/20802bolognagiacomo lercaroecclesial planningchurches and citychiesa e quartiere
spellingShingle Giovanni Bellucci
Giacomo Lercaro, an Architect among Architects? The Scientific Planning of the “Seconda Bologna” between the 1950s and 1960s.
Histories of Postwar Architecture
bologna
giacomo lercaro
ecclesial planning
churches and city
chiesa e quartiere
title Giacomo Lercaro, an Architect among Architects? The Scientific Planning of the “Seconda Bologna” between the 1950s and 1960s.
title_full Giacomo Lercaro, an Architect among Architects? The Scientific Planning of the “Seconda Bologna” between the 1950s and 1960s.
title_fullStr Giacomo Lercaro, an Architect among Architects? The Scientific Planning of the “Seconda Bologna” between the 1950s and 1960s.
title_full_unstemmed Giacomo Lercaro, an Architect among Architects? The Scientific Planning of the “Seconda Bologna” between the 1950s and 1960s.
title_short Giacomo Lercaro, an Architect among Architects? The Scientific Planning of the “Seconda Bologna” between the 1950s and 1960s.
title_sort giacomo lercaro an architect among architects the scientific planning of the seconda bologna between the 1950s and 1960s
topic bologna
giacomo lercaro
ecclesial planning
churches and city
chiesa e quartiere
url https://hpa.unibo.it/article/view/20802
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