Peer Reviewed Title: Out of Ashes and Rubble: The Pirelli Tower Journal Issue: Places, 21(1) Author: Ziegler, Claudia J. Publication Date: 2009 Publication Info: Places Permalink: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/16v9d2pd Acknowledgements: This article was originally produced in Places Journal. To subscribe, visit www.places-journal.org. For reprint information, contact
[email protected]. Keywords: places, placemaking, architecture, environment, landscape, urban design, public realm, planning, design, volume 21, issue 1, Recovering, claudia, ziegler, ashes, rubble, pirelli, tower Copyright Information: All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. Contact the author or original publisher for any necessary permissions. eScholarship is not the copyright owner for deposited works. Learn more at http://www.escholarship.org/help_copyright.html#reuse eScholarship provides open access, scholarly publishing services to the University of California and delivers a dynamic research platform to scholars worldwide. Out of Ashes and Rubble: The Pirelli Tower Claudia J. Ziegler At the end of World War II, the Italian economy was in Realization of the Tower ruins and more than 300,000 Italians were dead. Many in The success of the Pirelli Tower went against the the country desired to “erase the compromises and errors grain in Italy, where postwar reconstruction was more of the period,” and turned to architectural projects to often overwhelmed with symbolism, politics, and the promote a sense of healing.1 long history of place.2 Nowhere was this more evident While the bombs of the allied forces had helped liber- than in Florence. On August 3, 1944, as the German ate Italy from Nazi occupation, the events of the war had army retreated, it blew up all the bridges across the Arno also inflicted extensive damage on city centers, monu- except the Ponte Vecchio, which Hitler loved.3 To prevent ments, infrastructure, and major public buildings.