As testimonies and centrepieces of city life, imposing and monumental protagonists of important squares in Italian city centres, the historic buildings of Poste Italiane are presented in the volume 'Le Belle Poste' recently reprinted by Franco Maria Ricci Editore to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the foundation of the public body.
160 years have passed, from 1862 to 2022, since the foundation of Poste Italiane, the public body that today manages postal and telegraphic services for Italy. To mark the occasion, Franco Maria Ricci Editore presented a reprint of the volume "Le Belle Poste, Palazzi storici di Poste Italiane" (The Beautiful Post Office, Historical Buildings of the Italian Post Office) which, through a rich iconographic display, presents both the interiors and exteriors of these imposing and monumental buildings constructed from North to South, from East to West, in all the main cities of the peninsula and specially commissioned by Poste Italiane.
The buildings were built between the late 19th century and after World War II. This was an important period in Italian history, from the aftermath of the unification of Italy, passing through the two world wars and the birth of the Italian Republic, to the post-war reconstruction phase and the formation of contemporary cities.
Introduced by a foreword by Maria Bianca Farina, president of Poste Italiane, and essays by scholars Giuseppe Strappa and Giorgio Di Giorgio, the buildings selected for the volume are presented through in-depth fact sheets, one for each building, complete with period plates and drawings as well as evocative photographs by Luciano Romano, Giovanni Ricci-Novara and Massimo Listri. The story of the more than thirty selected postal buildings also becomes the story of the technological and social transformations that took place in Italy in that period, of the evolutions in the field of architecture and design. The buildings illustrate the design and artistic solutions that the various stakeholders involved (engineers, architects, designers and artists) found to adapt to the demands of representativeness of the entity, and thus of the Italian state, to a new building typology and subsequently to the innovations in the field of postal and telegraph services. Important works that contributed to the development of Italian architecture between the two wars, achieving significant results, especially in the 1930s with projects that are recognised as masterpieces of Italian architecture, such as the Palazzo delle Poste in Naples designed by architect Giuseppe Vaccaro with his colleague Gino Franzi.
(Agnese Bifulco)
Images courtesy of Franco Maria Ricci Editore
Title: LE BELLE POSTE / Palazzi storici delle poste Italiane
Pages: 192
Photographs by: Luciano Romano, Giovanni Ricci-Novara and Massimo Listri
Texts by: Maria Bianca Farina, Giuseppe Strappa, Giorgio Di Giorgio, Manuela Del Bufalo, Maria Grazia Flaccomio, Bruno Principe, Antonella Riccardi.
Format 28.5 x 30 cm
Cost: 120 euro
Release date: 15 June 2022
Captions and Credits
01_Le Belle Poste. Palazzi storici delle poste Italiane, Bari, Sala circolare della sportelleria
Credits: Luciano Romano
02_Cover, Le Belle Poste. Palazzi storici delle poste Italiane
03_Le Belle Poste. Palazzi storici delle poste Italiane, Carrara, Copertura del salone al pubblico
Credits: Massimo Listri
04_ Le Belle Poste. Palazzi storici delle poste Italiane, Cremona, Salone al pubblico
Credits: Giovanni Ricci
05_Le Belle Poste. Palazzi storici delle poste Italiane, Ferrara, Scalone interno di accesso agli uffici direzionali
Credits: Giovanni Ricci
06_ Le Belle Poste. Palazzi storici delle poste Italiane, Grosseto, Prospetto principale su piazza Fratelli Rosselli
Credits: Massimo Listri
07_Le Belle Poste. Palazzi storici delle poste Italiane, La Spezia, Vano della scala principale: Le comunicazioni, mosaico di ceramica dei futuristi Fillia ed Enrico Prampolini
Credits: Giovanni Ricci
08_ Le Belle Poste. Palazzi storici delle poste Italiane, Massa, Torre all’angolo tra via della Democrazia e viale Chiesa
Credits: Massimo Listri
09_Le Belle Poste. Palazzi storici delle poste Italiane, Napoli, Salone al pubblico
Credits: Luciano Romano
10_Le Belle Poste. Palazzi storici delle poste Italiane, Palermo, Sala del consiglio, veduta d’insieme con serie di pannelli pittorici di Benedetta Marinetti
Credits: Luciano Romano
11_Le Belle Poste. Palazzi storici delle poste Italiane, Rovigo, Scala di accesso agli uffici direzionali
Credits: Giovanni Ricci
12_Le Belle Poste. Palazzi storici delle poste Italiane, Siracura, Prospetto principale e Ponte Nuovo
Credits: Luciano Romano
13_Le Belle Poste. Palazzi storici delle poste Italiane, Trento, Vetrata nel corpo di collegamento per gli uffici direzionali, opera di Enrico Prampolini
Credits: Giovanni Ricci
14_Le Belle Poste. Palazzi storici delle poste Italiane, Trieste, Parete di fondo del salone al pubblico con scalinata
Credits: Giovanni Ricci
15_Le Belle Poste. Palazzi storici delle poste Italiane, Parma, Salone al pubblico: copertura in ferro e vetro dei cortili interni
Credits: Giovanni Ricci
