Arenzano: wonders and contradictions of an acropolis by the Ligurian Sea

Between 1958 and 1962, Domus presented 6 fine architectures built in the pine forest of Arenzano, an exclusive holiday destination in western Liguria.

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Alessandro Benetti
10 August 2022
Arenzano, Italy

Domus first wrote about the big pine forest southwest of Arenzano, on the western coast of Liguria, in 1958, only two years after the approval of the touristic development plan proposed by Ignazio Gardella and Marco Zanuso. Over the following five years, the magazine published six essays on this innovative gated community (the first in Italy, according to Stefano Guidarini), a holiday acropolis suspended 70 meters above sea level, built for the rich Milanese bourgeoisie by the best architects of the city (among them we find Luigi Caccia Dominioni, Anna Castelli Ferrieri, Vico Magistretti, Roberto Menghi and Gio Ponti). Short introductions, detailed captions and many photographs by Giorgio Casali guide the reader through the transformation of this stretch of coastline. Domus describes the buildings in Arenzano as experiments on integrating architecture into a natural environment, or as devices for observing the landscape through architecture.

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Marco Zanuso, Red Houses, Arenzano, Italy, 1960. Photo Casali-Domus

Thus, the hotel in Capo San Martino by Gardella (Domus 344, July 1958) is described as “a lively architectural work that creates a landscape in the landscape: every wall, view and opening is designed to frame in unexpected ways the panorama and the sea, while not being invaded by them”. The square designed by Gardella and Castelli Ferrieri (Domus 369, August 1960) seeks an unconventional relationship with its surroundings, too. The square “does not offer a view of the sea nor of the nearby vegetation. People can only admire the distant mountains to the North. Squares are typically enclosed spaces, but this one is pierced by views that remind us of what is outside: a little glimpse of sky where the buildings do not touch each other; the outline of the mountains beyond the limits of the square”. In order to maximise the view over the sea, Ponti’s Villa (Domus 395, October 1962) and Zanuso’s Red Houses (Domus 369) alternate full and empty spaces, screens and openings. Thanks to the many walls of the Villa, observing the landscape becomes a private and personal experience, enjoyable from the living room and the bedrooms. The Red Houses (Case Rosse), on the other hand, are perched on the cliff of the promontory, “towering over the sea, facing it with their closed facades, like buttresses. These two buildings, very complex and close to each other, are separated by narrow and steep ‘carugi’ - Ligurian dialect for passageways.” The most outstanding features of the Casa Arosio designed by Magistretti (Domus 363, February 1960) and the Villa designed by Gardella and Castelli Ferrieri (Domus 392, July 1962) are the roof gardens. Magistretti transformed “all the flat roofs (...) into small hanging gardens, communicating with each other and connected, at the bottom, to the ground garden (...). The construction has not eliminated the vegetation: it has lifted it, in some way.” The large roof terrace of Gardella and Castelli Ferrieri is also full of vegetation and equipped for many everyday life activities: “here you can grow flowers, sunbathe (and sandbathe, too), lie down on deck chairs and enjoy the breath-taking view, as if you were on the deck of a ship”. An intelligent solution prevents any obstruction of the view: “in order to prevent the terrace parapet from blocking the view, the perimeter area of the passage has been slightly lowered in relation to the central area of the terrace. As a result, the parapet is only forty centimetres taller”.