Last update: August 26, 2025
I have visited Bologna various times since 1994, mainly due to the famous Finnish architect’s Alvar Aalto’s church in Riola, Bologna, and Aalto’s employment by one of the key figures in Vatican II, Giacomo Cardinal Lercaro.
To put Alvar Aalto’s church in Riola in context, I have documented the bolognese “Lercaro” churches in detail.
This documentation proved it necessary to get acquainted with modern Italian church architecture on the whole, not very well known internationally,
Therefore, in order to get a wider perspective of modern Italian church building before and after Vatican II, I have visited several other churches around the country. These churches include residential areas on the outskirts of Milan and Rome, as well as certain key places of modern church architecture in Italy.
This has resulted in an extensive knowledge of modern Italian church architecture, including architects like Giovanni Michelucci, Gio Ponti, Figini & Pollini, Giuseppe Vaccaro and Glauco Gresleri, but also many others who might be less known to the public.
Attention paid to less remarkable church building activity, especially in the above mentioned suburbs of Milan and Rome, has also revealed interesting issues, like certain typical patterns of building modest but functional churches outside architectural spotlights.
I have often travelled in Italy without my usual gears including my heavy tripod and the like. But not always. So, concerning Italy, there usually exists more knowledge than “excellent” photographical work. However, some good exceptions exist.
A very friendly admission to study architect Glauco Gresleri’s important private archives at Bologna on February, 2020 – when the coronavirus was already shutting down the whole of Bologna – brought to light interesting documents. My warmest thanks go to the Artist and Director Lorenzo Gresleri, who is currently taking care of his father’s archives, and to PhD Luigi Bartolomeo, who has promoted my Bolognese studies since 2008.
In order to understand in a more detailed way Cardinal Lercaro’s contribution to modern Catholic church architecture, I have been looking forward to studying his role further on in Bologna.
Our joint application together with Arch. Sofia Singler from the University of Cambridge to get access to the FSCIRE in Bologna was accepted at 2020. We are currently (2025) working on a related project led by Arch. Claudia Manenti (Fondazione Cardinale Giacomo Lercaro).