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Paolo Verzone (1902-1982) A Journey in Time and Space | History of Architecture-1: Masters

"The work of these two scholars [Arthur Kingsley Porter and Josep Puig i Cadafalch] is the point of departure of some of my papers.....and of some of my articles...
When a similar framework is available for the art of a certain historical period and of a certain region, completion proves easy and smooth, because you have a solid base. One can say that from the moment those studies were published, Lombard art ceased to be a problem of art and history..." (P. Verzone)

[[000092 Carlo Verzone] (1856-1934)
A most interesting prominent Piedmontese intellectual due to his literary studies, managerial capacity and dedication to public and social problems. In 1877, Paolo Verzone’s father obtained a degree in Literature at the University of Turin. He continued with postgraduate studies in Florence, specializing in the literature of the academies of the 1500’s and, above all, studying the works of Antonfrancesco Grazzini, known as "Il Lasca" (1503-1584). He published a critical re-edition of Grazzini’s rhymes and novellas, which was appreciated also by Giosuè Carducci. He was a very active teacher and headmaster, and occupied many official positions in the cultural and administrative spheres of Vercelli, eventually governing the comunal administration. From his father, Paolo Verzone inherited a love of Literature, and his frank open personality, which made him both easily cheerful and rigorous in his studies. From his mother, Linda Boda, a talented artist, he acquired his great sensitivity for the figurative arts and antiques, together with a talent for drawing.

Enrico Boncinelli (1872-1939)
Together with Giovanni Chevalley (1868-1954), Enrico Boncinelli was Paolo Verzone‘s university professor at Engineering (courses of Ornation Design, Technical Architecture and Architecture) and probably supervised his degree thesis. Boncinelli’s figure is that of a qualified professional of the beginning of the century, an excellent drawer, whose production in architectonics was not notably original, occupying niches formed by others. He is best-known for the House of the Society for the Promotion of Beau Artes in Valentino Park (Torino, 1916), with a lovely façade enriched by a body of sculptures by Giulio Casanova and Eduardo Rubino. Boncinelli was a good artisan of architecture and perhaps a good teacher for the moderate Paolo Verzone in whom he probably instilled more a passion for history and art rather than a creative verve.

Pietro Betta (1878-1932)
In 1923, while still a student, Paolo Verzone joined the study of Pietro Betta and his closely-knit group of collaborators, including Felice Bardelli, Armando Melis de Villa, Maurizio De Rege, Domenico Morelli and Alessandro Molli Boffa.

Betta was a knowledgeable professional who typified the Piedmontese architectonic culture at the start of the 1900’s and, with Avezzana House (Turin 1912), he managed to overtake the floral stylistic movement, reaching a tendency very close to Art Déco, with traces that were almost proto-expressionistic. He maintained these features also in the urban niche of the home of Thaon de Revel (Turin, approx. 1923). Concerning this house, Paolo Verzone often recalled, very enthusiastically, his active participation in the definition of the executive designs, particularly in the actual drawing of some of the decorative parts.

Arthur Kingsley Porter (1883-1933)
Art historian of the so-called "second generation" of north American historians, at 26 his two volumes of Medieval Architecture (New York, 1912) were published. It included numerous information sheets of medieval buildings, part of a very wide representation of European and Oriental architecture, from the Greco-Roman world to the early Middle Ages. His Lombard Architecture is instead an authentic monument of illustrated history and critique (New Haven, 1915-1917) focusing on the medieval sacred buildings of north Italy; the positivistic and multidisciplinary approach of the American scholar, the attention he paid to the story behind the monument and direct observation, could not fail to impress the young Verzone as he searched for his own cultural identity. So Verzone allows himself to be guided by a significantly innovative structure of method and analysis that he would never abandon in the years to come.

Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1869-1956)
In the years preceding 1909, Puig i Cadafalch, a historian of Catalan architecture and a great protagonist of Modernist architecture, undertook a systematic study of Catalan history and territory which lead him to write "L’arquitectura romanica a Catalunya" (Barcelona 1909-1918), one of the major references of the illustrated history of medieval architecture, which flanks the works of Kingsley Porter in breadth and scientific value. Paolo Verzone was an early admirer of the work of Puig i Cadafalch, so much so that in him he recognizes "a safe guide for anyone wishing to study the monuments of early ‘lombard’ art".