What is the first memory that comes to your mind related to the Faculty of Architecture of Pescara?

The images remind me of Ludovico Quaroni's church in Francavilla: Aldo Rossi, called to teach - 1966-67 - accompanied by Giorgio Grassi, wanted to visit it together with the group of the first members, about thirty of which I was part, for us who obviously already we knew it was still a discovery. His lessons were expected as if they were the first of important films and as long as the teacher remained in Pescara - about two years - attending the faculty was a magnificent adventure.

There were also, considering the permanence of the faculty, many opportunities to visit and dinner, students and teachers, in the "extended" territory of Pescara. Rossi preferred a small trattoria on the southern riverside, next to the canal port, a certain "Gabriele", as well as "The green terrace" on the hills, authentic identifying places in Pescara. With clarity I remember, right in that restaurant, Agostino Renna was also present and there were only four of us, on that occasion I began to better understand the complex relations between Pescara and its territory: I often thought back to that dinner writing about Pescara which, for for many years, it remained a favorite place for the followers of the Trend.

One of the phenomena that has affected the Faculty of Architecture of Pescara since its origins has been that of TREND. What is TREND? and what did it represent for you?

The Tendency was a name attributed, with a certain degree of approximation, to a group of important architects who shared a way of interpreting rational thought and, in part, a theory of architectural design based on the analysis of architecture itself. In Pescara, it was represented, in practice, by Giorgio Grassi who taught there for over a decade with great authority, without however leaving you - considering the premature death of Agostino Renna and the return to Naples of Uberto Siola - followers equally charismatic nor provided with those academic qualifications, with relative powers necessary for the permanence of a school; the echo Grassiana was however a presence that snaked for other years, curiously fueled also by prejudices of the opponents.

What do you think you have left in this faculty?

Nothing, if the question, of course, alludes to a cultural heritage and not to the esteem of those friends, teachers and former students who will remember my presence at the faculty for some “additional” time.

If you were to return to teaching in Pescara, what experiences would you try to introduce into the reality of the Department of Architecture?

It is difficult to immerse myself in this hypothesis, but if I were granted "another round of life" I would refer to two very distant experiences in chronological order:

• To the more remote ones, when I collaborated, as an assistant, with the group of G.Grassi, A.Renna, A.Monestiroli and others in the verticalized Composition and Design courses: all the students participated regardless of enrollment in the year of the course: a kind of laboratory for lessons, discussions, exchanges, an unforgettable exciting chaos between teachers and students.

• To the experiences carried out in the last years of my stay in the faculty when I taught scenography, obtaining the maximum attention and participation from the students who carried out, almost all, overall activities for a number of hours much higher than the prescribed one. I believe that beyond the specific program, in the context of a discipline I interpreted, in concrete design terms such as setting up the space and assembling a project, the involvement of experts, the organization of an authentic laboratory were the factors that they pushed the interest of the students to an equally authentic participation.