Turin 1911: The World's Fair in Italy

Architects and engineers of the Turin 1911 fair took inspiration from different architectures, some familiar to them beacuse located in Turin, and others probably known through periodical or magazines of architecture.

The Monumental Waterfall was conceived as a castle of water, and the fountains were modeled on the same line of Bernini’s fountains (Bassignana, 2011) or the Fontana di Trevi (Massaia, 1989).

Left: The Monumental Fountian in a 1911 postcard. Right: The Fontana di Trevi in a picture of the 2022 (CC-BY-SA 4.0).

The Monumnetal Waterfall by Stefano Molli replicated the two clock towers from the tower bells of the Curch of Superga by Juvarra and was comparable in majesty to the Vittoriano by Sacconi, which probably Molli knew thanks to magazines such as Edilizia Moderna and Illustrazione Italiana.

Molli’s 1911 recreations of Juvarra’s fantasies in the stage-like settings of the Valentino Park replicated the effect of grandiose, and carefully controlled, mise en scene demonstrating architecture’s ostensive ability to give physical form to both political and economic power.

Left: The Monumental Waterfall in a Molli's drawing. Right: The Basilica of Superga in a picture of today by Irene Capra (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The City of Paris Pavilion, designed by Bouvard and Vincent, resemble the Palace of Versailles (Il Padiglione della Città di Parigi, in Giornale Ufficiale 20 (April 29, 1910): 317-320).