Anno/Year 2026
156 pagine/pages
62 illustrazioni/illustrations.
13x20 cm.
ISBN 9788833842059
€16.80
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Altre pubblicazioni di Paolo Bulletti
Albert Einstein e Firenze
Albert Einstein and Florence
Frank Lloyd Wright e Firenze
Altre pubblicazioni di Valeria Rondoni
Albert Einstein e Firenze
Albert Einstein and Florence
Frank Lloyd Wright e Firenze
Paolo Bulletti
Valeria Rondoni
Frank Lloyd Wright and Florence
Passions, Crises, and Recognition across the Tuscan Landscape
This book retraces, in a fluid narrative grounded in historical sources, Frank Lloyd Wright’s two stays in Florence: the passions, encounters, intuitions, people, and places that helped shape one of the most influential architectural visions of the twentieth century. It is a journey through a city and through the life of a man who, here more than once, measured the course of his own creative destiny.
Wright first arrived in 1909, at a moment of profound instability. At the height of his career, he left behind a fractured domestic life, abandoning family, studio, and certainty, while scandal followed him across the Atlantic. That Florentine “exile” became a necessary pause, a space of distance and concentration in which to bring forth the first European publication of his work—the Portfolio issued by the German publisher Wasmuth. Between readings of Vasari and Ruskin, and long walks with Mamah Cheney, the “kindred spirit” who had followed him there, he encountered the distinctly Italian harmony between built form and nature, allowing new ideas to enter and reshape his evolving concept of organic architecture.
In 1951, now an established master and accompanied by Olgivanna, the partner of his later years, Wright returned to Florence for the retrospective exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi—an event that became a bridge between America and postwar Italy. The city received him with honorary citizenship and with an enthusiasm that marked the definitive entry of his work into the European architectural debate. Florence was no longer a refuge, but a conscious stage for the full expression of his vision.
Between the hills of Florence and Fiesole unfold two decisive moments in the life of Frank Lloyd Wright—distant in time, yet intimately connected. This book retraces his stays in 1909–1910 and in 1951: two returns to the same city, two pivotal passages in which private life, architectural vision, and artistic maturity mirror and reshape one another.
During the first stay, Wright arrives in Italy as his American life begins to unravel. He has left behind family, reputation, and stability, traveling with Mamah Borthwick Cheney—the wife of a client—to live a relationship that openly defies the conventions of the time. Yet this is also a moment of creation: together with his son Lloyd and his collaborator Taylor Woolley, he begins shaping the Wasmuth Portfolio, the first European publication of his designs. More than a collection of projects, it is a declaration of identity—a way of ordering his thoughts and offering them to the world.
Renaissance architecture, the Tuscan hills, and the seamless continuity between nature and construction awaken in him an unexpected resonance with the landscapes of his Midwestern childhood. Through his readings of Vasari and Ruskin, Florence reveals itself as a living organism, suggesting a new idea of architecture—an all-encompassing art. “Architecture is the mother of the arts,” he would later say.
The narrative follows Wright into postwar Florence, where the now-established master presents his vision of organic architecture to a city seeking to redefine its place in the modern world. At his side is his third wife, Olgivanna, whose presence marks a new season of his life and contributes to shaping a broader understanding of architecture as an existential experience.
Florence accompanies Wright from a place of crisis and reinvention to a space of recognition and legacy. What emerges is a dialogue between the architect and the city—one that offers a renewed lens through which to understand both his thought and his heritage.
Paolo Bulletti è architetto e consulente immobiliare. Nel suo lavoro di progettista e nella sua attività didattica presso università americane e l'Università di Firenze, la sua ricerca si è sempre focalizzata sul rapporto tra l’uomo e lo spazio, inteso come entità che viene vissuta dinamicamente nel tempo: come le persone vivono gli spazi progettati nel loro scorrere temporale, una riflessione che lo ha naturalmente avvicinato alla fisica relativistica e alla figura di Einstein.
Ha pubblicato con Il Sole 24 Ore il volume Le parole del progetto e tenuto per alcuni anni una rubrica in inglese nella rivista Arketipo sui temi della sostenibilità; per Tecniche Nuove ha pubblicato il dizionario Inglese per l'Architettura. Per Giunti ha curato il catalogo della mostra Frank Lloyd Wright a Fiesole 100 anni dopo, di cui è stato anche co-organizzatore, esperienza che lo ha portato ad approfondire la storia del territorio fiorentino da cui prende avvio questo libro.
Come per Einstein, la musica rappresenta per lui la necessaria controparte all'attività intellettuale: se il fisico trovava rifugio nel rigore di Mozart e Bach, Bulletti lo cerca da anni nelle armonie e nell'improvvisazione del jazz.
Paolo Bulletti is an architect and real estate consultant. Throughout his design career and his academic work at various American universities and the University of Florence, his research has consistently focused on the relationship between humanity and space. He perceives space as a dynamic entity experienced through the passage of time—exploring how people inhabit designed environments as they unfold temporally—a reflection that naturally drew him toward relativistic physics and the figure of Albert Einstein.
He is the author of Le parole del progetto (The Words of Design) with Il Sole 24 Ore and contributed to a long-running English-language column on sustainability for the magazine Arketipo. With Tecniche Nuove he published the dictionary Inglese per l'Architettura (English for Architecture). For Giunti he edited the catalog for the exhibition Frank Lloyd Wright a Fiesole 100 anni dopo (Frank Lloyd Wright in Fiesole 100 Years Later), which he also co-organized, an experience that led him to deeply explore the history of the Florentine territory where this book begins.
Much like Einstein, music serves as a vital counterpoint to his intellectual pursuits: while the physicist found refuge in the rigor of Mozart and Bach, Bulletti has long found his in the harmonies and improvisation of jazz.
Valeria Rondoni è un’autrice e consulente attiva nei campi della divulgazione scientifica, della sostenibilità ambientale e dell’arte. Dopo aver conseguito un Master di secondo livello in Storia presso l’Università di Firenze, con specializzazione in Storia delle Religioni, ha intrapreso attività accademica come docente di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, insegnando in università americane con sede a Firenze, tra cui Richmond College, Studio Art Centers International e Polimoda. Parallelamente ha partecipato a numerosi progetti culturali tra Firenze e Milano, collaborando con galleristi, artisti contemporanei e realtà operanti nei settori dell’architettura e della ricerca scientifica. Per oltre venticinque anni ha tenuto incontri e conferenze su temi teosofici. Collabora con la Fondazione EWA (Earth and Water Agenda), organizzazione impegnata nella promozione delle tecnologie ambientali e nella gestione sostenibile delle risorse idriche. Tra i suoi scritti: Le parole che dico all’acqua e Perché dipingono: motivi e passioni di artisti moderni. Per bambini e ragazzi ha scritto Il topino dei denti, VivaCity, Le paperelle degli Oceani, The Friendly Floatees e La Strega Violina. In ambito poetico Multi-me, BaseLoba, Il Nuovo Liceo Fantasia e The New Energy High School.
Valeria Rondoni is an author and consultant active in the fields of scientific dissemination, environmental sustainability, and art. After obtaining a second-level Master's degree in History from the University of Florence, specializing in the History of Religions, she embarked on an academic career as a lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Art, teaching at American universities based in Florence, including Richmond College, Studio Art Centers International, and Polimoda. At the same time, she participated in numerous cultural projects in Florence and Milan, collaborating with gallery owners, contemporary artists, and organizations operating in the fields of architecture and scientific research. For over twenty-five years, she has held meetings and conferences on theosophical topics. She collaborates with the EWA (Earth and Water Agenda) Foundation, an organization committed to promoting environmental technologies and sustainable water resource management. His writings include: Le parole che dico all'acqua (The Words I Say to Water) and Perché dipingono: motivi e passioni di artisti moderni (Why They Paint: Motives and Passions of Modern Artists). For children and young adults, he has written Il topino dei denti (The Tooth Mouse), VivaCity, Le paperelle degli Oceani (The Ducks of the Oceans), The Friendly Floatees, and La Strega Violina (The Violin Witch). In the field of poetry, he has written Multi-me, BaseLoba, Il Nuovo Liceo Fantasia (The New Fantasy High School), and The New Energy High School.
