Modernity of living and the farmhouse

The underlying theme of the intervention is based on the recognition of the importance the farm house had as delicate and neglected detector of the technical, theoretical, political and social developments of the Italian town planning and architecture of the 1920s and 1930s, then going on until the “great reconstruction” of the ‘50s. The attempt at applying also to the range of farm workers ’houses the ethics of the rationalistic standard - combined with the study of the town planning organization of entire quarters at the edge between town and countryside – underlines the importance given to the theme of the rural living also in terms of the individual social growth . Ethical and political reasons interlace in the analysis and planning of the country house to the extent of ruling the state of bucolic declination of the popular house, same level compared with the working-class house. farm workers housing prove to be an optimal ground for the experimentation of new “fast” building technologies, that is to say prefabricated, according to the concept of “fast house” deriving from the North-European functionalism. Tradition preservation meant as motivation to agricultural work and modernity turned into application of quality standard and technological innovation, come in this way to meet in the “house for the work follower”. The area of padano-veneta valley still preserves remains of such buildings that, besides land reclamation, have distinguished the agricultural areas from Milanese to Cremonese areas, from Pavese to Piacentino, to the Ferrarese –Forlivese. There are several examples imposed by the activity of individual designers, like Gaetano Ciocca, engineer from Pavia area, maker of a prefabricated rural house in cement (1935), or private individuals like the owners of the farmhouses designed by Asnago and Vender (1937), or agricultural and food firms such as those for Bottoni, Mucchi and Pucci for Nestlè (1943), or, above all, on the initiative of institutions like Maggiore Hospital of Milan (1937-1939), owner of several farms. Such houses, evidence of a constructive civilization and a developing social will, can still be seen but often left in disrepair and it is therefore necessary to repropose the audience of experts and restoration professionals such a problem, often neglected for the owner’s lack of interest.