La promozione della cultura architettonica. Mostre, congressi, conferenze, concorsi

The paper briefly analyses the activity carried on by AACAR regarding the diffusion and the development of the architectural culture in Rome – and later in Italy – between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, focusing on exhibitions, congresses, conferences, and – during the post-war period – on design competitions. After the significant outcome accomplished on the occasion of the International Exhibition held on 1911, when AACAR presented a summa of two decades of work (including restorations, urban planning, studies on monuments and re-evaluation of minor architecture), a new phase begun, looking at design competitions, periodically advertised on the journal “Architettura e Arti Decorative”, starting from 1921. The magazine reports announcements and results of both competitions reserved for the members, and those ran on behalf of public and private institutions – mostly concerning new buildings located in districts under construction, according to the town-planning scheme compiled by Sanjust – where future major figures of the architectural scene of Rome of the thirties emerge, among others Del Debbio, De Renzi, Morpurgo, Aschieri, Vaccaro.