In this interview, Maristella Casciato discussed Italy’s architectural history culture from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, before PhD programs existed in the field. Research was often self-initiated and sustained through informal institutions and debate. Manfredo Tafuri ran an institute near the Pantheon, while forums such as I lunedì dell’architettura brought Tafuri, Bruno Zevi, and Paolo Portoghesi together for public discussion.
After graduating from La Sapienza, Casciato entered this environment while undertaking a decade-long study of Dutch modern architecture. She also organized Portoghesi’s photographic archive and worked for Officina Edizioni. She connected this culture of research outside universities to Rome’s historical setting, Zevi’s belief in history’s architectural relevance, Tafuri’s political approach, and state support for culture. Her 2010 attempt to establish a PhD program in Bologna suggested that historical research was no longer similarly valued. She subsequently moved to North America, working at the CCA and the Getty and advancing scholarship through archives. Her account questioned what conditions sustain architectural history and whether universities alone can provide them.