Visualizing the Italian Way of Life: Italian Design Products Through the Pages of Domus, 1955–1975

After the period of interruption caused by the war, the editorial Domus restarts in January 1946 with the number 205; Ernesto Nathan Rogers clarifies the intent of the magazine, announcing at the forefront the desire to “form a taste, a technique and a morality” to rebuild a society (205, 1946, 3). From that moment Domus will become the mirror of the new Italian housing condition, nourished and enriched by new styles, new needs and new possibilities. Between the 1950s and the 1970s, Domus tells a story in which images play a fundamental role. In fact, the visual enrichment testifies to a chronological evolution not only of taste, but also of the modus operandi of visual communication. The images tell the story of the new objects and new spaces that have reformulated the new paradigma of the home. An ascending climax of visual content, and more generally of graphics, which over the years has confessed a strong communicative and evocative power; as Mario Piazza wrote, “It is the graphics that modeled and made visible a symbolic universe through which consumers encountered the product.” (2013). The covers of the individual issues and the images used in the magazine were the dissemination tool of a new taste, received by a changing and well-oriented society. The contribution aims to analyze and reflect on the role of images within the Domus magazine during the period from 1955 to 1975, arguing on the visual display of visual content from a critical perspective, analyzing the stylistic choices and the masterful orchestration of advertising inserts, and how, thanks to their certification, they have made Domus a container for theorizing and promoting the new Italian house.