Venice Beyond the Monument: 

The Vision of Egle Renata Trincanato

The conference celebrates the first English edition of Venezia Minore—published nearly eighty years after Egle Renata Trincanato’s groundbreaking 1948 study—and reintroduces to an international audience one of the most original readings of Venice’s architectural identity. Trincanato’s work was revolutionary in its insistence that the city could not be understood solely through its monuments. Instead, she turned her gaze toward the vernacular architecture of Venice: the minor houses, working-class dwellings, service buildings, and everyday spatial devices that collectively shape the lagoon’s urban organism.

Angelo Maggi’s new critical edition restores the methodological force of this approach. By foregrounding the vernacular as a legitimate field of architectural inquiry, the edition highlights how Trincanato anticipated contemporary debates on ordinary heritage, material culture, and the social history of the built environment. Her attention to construction techniques, typological variations, and the lived experience of the city reveals a Venice that is not merely picturesque but structurally and culturally complex.

The conference will explore how this renewed focus on vernacular architecture challenges dominant narratives of Venetian history and offers a more inclusive understanding of the city’s architectural landscape. By making Venezia Minore available in English for the first time, the event repositions Trincanato’s contribution within global architectural discourse and underscores the enduring relevance of her vision for scholars, architects, and institutions engaged in the study and preservation of historic urban environments.

Prof. Angelo Maggi

Angelo Maggi is professor of Architectural History, History of Photography and History of Architectural photography at Università Iuav di Venezia (IUAV). He earned his PhD in Architecture and Visual Studies at the Edinburgh College of Art (ECA). He is full member of the PhD School in History of the Arts (Ca’Foscari University Venice) from 2010 and he is acting as Vice-Rector IUAV for International Relations. He is also professor at the College of Art and Design at Beijing University of Tecnology (BJUT) and visiting professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing and Central Academy of Arts (CAA) Hangzhou. 

His books include the Italian editions of Robert Byron’s The Appreciation of Architecture(2006), Lucia Moholy, A Hundred Years of Photography 1839–1939(2008), and Helmut Gernshiem’s Focus on Architecture and Sculpture(2011). Along with his sole-authored book Rosslyn Chapel an Icon through the ages (2008), Maggi co-authored (with Michael Gray) Evelyn George Carey.Forth bridge (2009) and co-edited (with Nicola Navone) John Soane and the Wooden Bridges of Switzerland. Architecture and the culture of technology from Palladio to the Grubenmanns (2003). His book Giorgio Casali Photographer / Domus 1951-1983.Architecture, Design and Art in Italy (2013) examines the history of the architectural design culture of Italy through an analysis of its most influential photographer. He is also author of Photo Graphic Pedia (2014) and Re-visioning Venice 1893-2013 Ongania/Romagnosi (2014) and the book The American Journey (2020) is dedicated to Bruno Morassuti’s journey in the 1950s at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin fellowship. Maggi has widely written books on photography for Alinari. His book G.E. Kidder Smith Builds. The Travel of Architectural Photography (2022) was awarded with the 2024 SAH Exhibition Catalogue Award from the Society of Architectural Historians. Last year he co-edited with Davide Deriu the volume Picturing Cities. The Photobook as Urban Narrative (2024). His latest monograph, titled Walter Rosenblum: Master of Photography (2025), is dedicated to one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century photography. His recent efforts mark the publication of Uncelebrated Venice, a book he curated that explores the life and impact of Egle Renata Trincanato, a remarkable yet often overlooked figure in Venetian history.

5th floor, Building D, CAUP, Tongji University

Charied by Prof. Peng Zhang