Abstract

In 1979, the Biennale di Venezia commissioned the architect Aldo Rossi to design the Teatro del Mondo: a floating building that should evoke the analogous constructions of the popular festivities of previous centuries, the ornate theatre stages that navigated along both the lagoon and canals, amusing the population stood on the fondamenta. As is usual in Rossi’s work, the Teatro del Mondo combined the intention of recovering past and memory adopting contemporary formal language. After taking part in the Carnival and in the International Architecture Exhibition of the 1980 Biennial, the theater sailed to Dubrovnik and was eventually dismantled. Although its materiality disappeared, the building–boat remained preserved in the memory and imagination of its admirers. For years his image could only be seen in the photos and films captured during the short existence. However, in 2004, the city of Genoa decided to rebuild the Teatro del Mondo, albeit provisionally. The forty-year anniversary of the project in 2019 provokes this article, which addresses the historiography of the famous theater, as well as discusses the theme of reconstruction in the light of the approach of the design as heritage.