Straßenrand-Spektakel. Zur Architektur der Autogrill-Raststätten [Roadside spectacle. On the architecture of autogrill roadside restaurants]

Highway architecture has played a decisive role in the construction of the modern imaginary, configuring itself as a phenomenon in which infrastructure, aesthetics and consumer strategies intertwine. The present study analyzes the evolution of Italian highway service stations since the Second World War, highlighting their link with the US model of commercialization of infrastructural space. The spread of highway restaurants in Italy coincided with the adoption of a futuristic and monumental aesthetic, designed to capture the attention of travelers and reinforce the idea of progress and economic well-being. Through a comparative analysis between the Italian and American contexts, the research highlights how commercial roadside architecture has acted as a device for the spectacularization of the landscape, integrating advertising and architectural form in a highly communicative visual language. The study is divided into three main phases: the importation of the American model and its Italian reinterpretation in the 1950s and 1960s; the affirmation of the most representative building types, such as bridge-buildings; and the subsequent phase of rationalization and standardization that characterized highway architecture from the 1970s onwards. The study highlights the transition from a visionary architectural concept, capable of generating icons of the infrastructural landscape, to an approach dominated by economic logic and operational efficiency, which have progressively eroded the expressive capacity of these buildings. At the same time, the work analyzes the role of highway rest stops in the process of “domestication” of infrastructural commercial spaces, questioning their status as non-places. This study contributes to the reflection on the relationship between architecture, infrastructure and consumption, demonstrating how even buildings designed to meet functional and economic needs can take on a symbolic and cultural value, affecting the perception of the landscape and the collective memory of travel.