Un capolavoro all’asta: la colonia montana “Rinaldo Piaggio” a Santo Stefano d’Aveto

This paper aims to update the discussion about the former Rinaldo Piaggio holiday camp for children in Santo Stefano d’Aveto, considering the recent events that have affected this masterpiece of modern architecture. The “Piaggio e Compagni” company built a holiday camp for the workers’ children in Santo Stefano d’Aveto in 1939. The Genoese architect, Luigi Carlo Daneri, designed a large building 100-meters long with a bow-sha- ped plan and dominated by a large facade overlooking the landscape of the Ligurian Apennines and entirely made of iron windows. The Piaggio holiday camp operated until the mid-eighties, following the same parable as many similar establishments: the management cost has slowly increased while the average period of stay for guests has decreased. Consequently, that model of hospitality and corporate welfare has progressively become unsustainable.Later, the new ownership modified the building to adapt to new functions, dividing the large collective dormitories to obtain small apartments and rooms suitable for hosting single guests, couples, or small groups. However, these works were interrupted, and the former holiday camp is nowadays abandoned and subjected to a judicial sale procedure. The paper briefly traces the project’s story and the building’s construction. It focuses on the most recent events, reporting the point of view of the stakeholders involved: the municipality, the Superintendency, and the professionals previously engaged in this process. Finally, the authors discuss the possibility of overcoming the current impasse and halting the deterioration of the building while preserving both the most recent mo- difications and its modernist qualities. In particular, the large facade is still mainly intact and deserves to be adequately preserved, just as the Italian Ministry of Culture prescribes.