ITALOMODERN 1: Architecture in Northern Italy 1946?1976 by Martin and Werner Feiersigner
Park Books, 2016
Paperback, 352 pages

ITALOMODERN 2: Architecture in Northern Italy 1946?1976 by Martin and Werner Feiersigner
Park Books, 2016
Paperback, 552 pages

Brothers Martin and Werner Feiersinger shared a passion and followed through on it, producing two amazing books about thirty years of postwar architecture in Northern Italy. The two researched, selected, visited, photographed, drew, and wrote about hundreds of buildings, creating an unparalleled survey with many surprises. For the most part, Martin, an architect practicing in Vienna, was responsible for the selection, texts and plans, and Werner, a sculptor and photographer also in Vienna, took the photos. Their contributions are accompanied by an essay by fellow Austrian Otto Kapfinger and biographical material on the architects of the buildings; all of it is handsomely packaged by Park Books into two bound volumes with simple linen covers that recall the era of concern.
I'm guessing the whole enterprise could have been squeezed into one book fairly easily, though most likely with larger pages. This would have turned the two portable volumes into coffee table books rather than travel guides. That, and the parallel between two brothers and two volumes makes the final result fitting. Regardless, it's not clear as to why certain projects are in Volume 1 and others (more of them) are in Volume 2; perhaps it's explained s...