Arredo & Città N°2 | 2023

PROGRESS AND CHANGING TASTES

We dedicated our issue for the second half of 2022 to the history of illumination in Venice. In the present publication, we will deal with that of Turin, capital of the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 to 1865. Fundamental in this case, too, was the documentation conserved in the Neri Foundation Archive, as well as that deriving from specific research in the Historical Archive of the City of Turin. The rich photographic collection helps us to perceive better the gradual changes, the evolution of the aspirations and the creativity of those appointed to organize the illumination, who often designed original luminaires. This unique feature gave rise to a series of proposals that were constantly renewed, never falling back on what had been done before. The various projects that succeeded each other were conceived for the same spaces, those most representative, such as Piazza Castello, Piazza Umberto I or Piazza San Carlo.