Between the 1950s and 1960s, Italy underwent a transformation: from a country still marked by post-war reconstruction, it became a modern industrial power. Architecture, design, industry and visual culture played a leading role in this transformation, contributing to the emergence of a new Italian identity – modern, creative and recognisable throughout the world.

Eleonora Caggiati’s lecture will take us through this pivotal period of 20th-century Italy: from the great masters such as Gio Ponti, Franco Albini, Giancarlo De Carlo, Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, to the work of Archizoom and Superstudio; from the companies that symbolised Italian industrial design — Olivetti, Arflex, Cassina, Brionvega, Fiat — to the venues and media that disseminated the new culture of design, such as the Milan Triennale, Domus, Casabella and television.

A session dedicated to Italy’s economic boom, to the dialogue between cities, industry, new materials and ‘Made in Italy’, and to…