The new Etruscan Galleries at the Fondazione Luigi Rovati in Milan offer a journey through space and time, inviting visitors to enter an underground world of flowing curves and vaulted interiors that bring to mind the ancient civilization's underground architecture. The Italian city's new cultural destination, designed by architect Mario Cucinella, has recently opened to the public, welcoming the exploration of Etruscan treasures and more – as its home, the prominent Milanese foundation, juxtaposes old and new art in a redesigned space on Corso Venezia.
Mario Cucinella's Etruscan Galleries at Fondazione Luigi Rovati
Cucinella, who was appointed for the renovation and remodelling of Milan’s 19th-century Palazzo Bocconi-Rizzoli-Carraro in 2015, is behind the expressive shapes and dramatic halls of the Etruscan Galleries – but he is also the mastermind composing the Fondazione Luigi Rovati’s two floors of exhibition space above ground, as well as its conservation facilities, an archive, a study room connected with the Luigi Rovati Foundation Library in Monza, event rooms, a bookshop, a café and a restaurant on its top floor.
The Bologna-born architect is an established force in working with site-specific conditions while blending sustainable architecture and eye-catching forms to dramatic effect. To that end, the galleries are made of one elliptical and three circular domed 'caverns'. Cucinella drew inspiration from Etruscan tombs of Cerveteri (in modern day Lazio), using their cavernous formations, which were built in dome shapes carved out of natural bedrock, and translated them into 21st-century museum space.
The horizontal layers and lines that help create and define the curves are a nod to overlapping, underground earth strata found on those sites – and they are seamlessly made of a single type of stone, pietra serena. At the same time, hidden air circulation mechanisms behind the stone allow for precision control of temperature and humidity in the exhibition halls.
The historic palazzo (originally composed by the architect Filippo Perego in the first half of the 20th century) was previously damaged by the Second World War and was in need of both a layout refresh and building repairs. The initial commission included an extension too, which was achieved via the excavations two levels beyond ground. The architect and his team worked on the space but also created the exhibition design inside, based on a flexible arrangement of elegant, ethereal, rectangular display cases. 'We are working on some hypotheses,' says Cucinella, 'always with the idea that a museum is not a crystallised space, but an open and hybrid space for culture. Milan is a city that knows how to use this type of space very well.'
-
All aboard: Azimut moor a yacht in the heart of MilanWith Azimut's Mooring by the Moon, Michele De Lucchi and AMDL Circle provide insight into the philsophy of the Seadeck Series with an immersive installation at Bagni Misteriosi
-
A low-energy farmhouse provides a rural escape in North CarolinaThis low-energy farmhouse is a net zero architectural re-set for a Californian client, an East Coast relocation for a more engaged and low-key lifestyle
-
Objects Are By unite creatives with artisans to create a new world of product designMilan-based brand Studio Objects Are By is introducing a novel idea to the design process. They're asking: What if you let an artist, an actor or a chef moonlight as a product designer?
-
Modernist architecture: inspiration from across the globeModernist architecture has had a tremendous influence on today’s built environment, making these midcentury marvels some of the most closely studied 20th-century buildings; check back soon for new additions to our list
-
Giovanni Michelucci’s dramatic concrete church in the Italian DolomitesGiovanni Michelucci’s concrete Church of Santa Maria Immacolata in the Italian Dolomites is a reverently uplifting memorial to the victims of a local disaster
-
Milan’s 10 Corso Como revamp nods to the concept store’s industrial characterMilanese concept store 10 Corso Como unveils its new look by 2050+, a stripped-back design that nods to its 20th-century character
-
Carlo Ratti announced curator of Venice Architecture Biennale 2025Carlo Ratti has been revealed as the Director of the Architecture Department at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025, with the specific task of curating the 19th International Architecture Exhibition
-
Minimalist architecture: homes that inspire calmThese examples of minimalist architecture place life in the foreground – clutter is demoted; joy promoted
-
Floating infinity pool by Herzog & De Meuron at Lake Como is largest of its kindHerzog & de Meuron creates the largest floating infinity pool in the world for Mandarin Oriental in Lake Como
-
Freddy Mamani on Neo-Andean architecture and bringing a cruise ship to BoliviaWe catch up with Bolivian architect Freddy Mamani at Focus: Radical Repair, the conference curated by The World Around and Fondation Cartier in Milan, to talk about Neo-Andean architecture and his latest project, el Crucero de los Andes
-
The finest brutalist architecture in London and beyondFor some of the world's finest brutalist architecture in London and beyond, scroll below. Can’t get enough of brutalism? Neither can we.
