Observations on public space in the city: the Town Hall Square of Vigonza (Italy)

This contribution examines the building complex planned and constructed in Vigonza, a populous town situated to the north-east of Padua, between 1937 and 1939. The almost exclusive use of exposed terracotta brickwork and the abstract sinusoidal design of the main façade make the architecture scenario characteristic and crystalised, a fundamental element in the identity of Vigonza although its inhabitants are not aware, today, of the issues that produced it. The authors of this article are deeply convinced that the public quality of life in the city is connected with the formal choices made by the project plan. They think that it is possible to trace a close relationship of identification between the community and the architectural forms that create a sense of belonging in those places. One of the identifying forms of the city is certainly provided by the piazza, the place par excellence throughout history in which the community recognises itself. From the city of classical times to the medieval city followed by the Renaissance city and continuing up to the present day, the piazza persists as a space of identity with continuity in the layout of the urban structure. Its maximum expression is seen in the Renaissance where the project of the city was planned as a place of the representation of civil life and its institutions were recognisable in the form of the places.