Bruno Zevi, a transnational cultural mediator

Bruno Zevi’s role in acting as an intermediary between Italy and the United States in the postwar years is well known. Zevi put to good use his web of connections across the Atlantic Ocean in order to promote a personal intellectual agenda and acquire social and cultural visibility in a world under transformation. Reflecting an independent and autonomous stance, his was not an uncritical and purely militant endorsement of American values, since he did not hesitate to criticize at times specific initiatives implemented by US authorities in Italy and Europe. It would be limiting, however, to see Zevi’s action in a purely transatlantic perspective. Starting from 1945, in fact, the Roman architect, historian and critic played an important part in promoting and facilitating the circulation of information related to architecture in a wider international context, thanks to his activity as a writer, educator and activist. The essay explores and discusses these aspects of Zevi’s figure, considering his dimension of transnational cultural mediator.