Robert Venturi's Rome

Robert Venturi’s Rome is a guidebook to the city of Rome seen through the eyes of Robert Venturi, re- interpreted by two subsequent Rome Prize fellows and architects, Frederick Fisher and Stephen Harby. Published in 1966, Venturi looks at architecture, landscape and art as different manifestations of common themes. As students the book is fundamental to the development of any young architects’ outlook on architecture. Venturi wrote the book following a two year Rome Prize fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, and there is no doubt that the city had a profound influence on his thinking. He used many buildings in Rome as examples to illustrate his theories. From the Pantheon, through works by his favorite artist, Michelangelo, and on to 20th century buildings by Armando Brasini and Luigi Moretti, Venturi reveals Rome as a complex and contradictory city.