'We’ve been into Hans Hollein for about a year and a half,' says Julio Kowalenko, of the recent fascination with Austrian post-modernist architect he has shared with Rodrigo Armas, partner and co-founder of Atelier Caracas. As Kowalenko continues, it’s clear that when he says ‘into’ he means ‘really into’. For Wallpaper* December 2023.

Launched in 1960 during a wave of postwar, pre-Olympics optimism in Rome, the ETR 252 train was the height of ambitious rail travel. L’Arlecchino boasted jet-age levels of onboard luxury with its 180-degree windows and all First Class seats. David boarded the refurbished train on a journey from Rome to Naples. Monocle Expo, May 2023.

Like Italy as a whole, L’Aquila’s relationship with Silvio Berlusconi is complicated.The case of the Palazzo Ardinghelli and the Maxxi museum that came to occupy it is a clear example of the fruits of a peculiarly opportunistic and Berlusconian approach to geopolitics and fundraising. Monocle Long Reads, October 2023.

“This is not intended as a large container of books”. Treviso-based architecture studio Carlana Mezzalira Pentimalli has created a space that feels like more than just a library. Fine wood interiors dominate, where angular, asymmetrical spaces and staircases abound. For Monocle Alpino, Winter 22/23.

With show-stopping exhibitions at Venice Biennale and Salone del Mobile – and Prada and Fendi dotting their client list – the once-niche Italian duo Formafantasma are a new kind of buzz in the design world. David Plaisant for GQ Style, published October 2022.

Rinascente in Piazza Fiume, Rome gets a makeover by Milan-based interdisciplinary design agency 2050+. Designed by architect duo Franco Albini and Franca Helg between 1957-61 and has long been one of the city’s modernist marvels. For Wallpaper* web edition, December 2022.

Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo has embarked on a mergers and acquisition programme with cultural clout, turning prestigious former bank buildings into the Gallerie d’Italia – displaying the bank’s staggering art collections. David visited the new Naples site for Monocle in July 2022.

‘Edible; Or, The Architecture of Metabolism' opens at the Tallinn Architecture Biennale 2022, exploring the relationship between food and architecture. For Wallpaper*.

Six decades of output that came with a fraction of the glamour and notoriety of his contemporaries. Rome’s Giustini/Stagetti celebrates the unsung hero of Italian design. A review of the show by David Plaisant for PIN-UP Magazine.

Japanese modernist master Kenzo Tange’s metabolist towers in Bologna are a superb anomaly. A special report for Monocle’s Salone del Mobile 2022 Newspaper with photography by Luigi Fiano.

“I see those cheering senators like people who try to stop the wind with their hands. You just postponed it; you can’t stop it.” MP Alessandro Zan on his battle to get anti homophobia legislation through Italian parliament.

“It’s hard not to smile when you hear this sound,”says Principal Hans-Peter Stifter. In a town in South Tyrol a progressive music school is settling into its dazzling new facilities.

A cultural profile of the city as it opens up to the world. How can the Uzbek capital become an art city? The plan: to eschew starchitects and take things slowly.

“Postmodernism represented liberty”. A love affair with the Baroque, a sense of irony, a captivation with curves and a passion for patterns define the life and work of Italian architect Paolo Portoghesi.

A visit to the Palace of Serbia. Formerly known as the “S.I.V.”, this modernist palace is a staggering tribute to the prowess and variety of Yugoslavia’s art and design output.

Encountering the headquarters of Gruppo Mondadori, Italy’s largest publishing house, is a surreal experience. Not least because we are in the suburbs of Milan, thousands of miles from Brasilia.

A visit to a relic of Roman experimental architecture. It was designed by Raynaldo Perugini (interviewed for this feature) and his architect parents Giuseppe Perugini and Uga De Plaisant in 1968–75.

Rome's heritage stands in its own category, and that means treasures abound that need constant attention. In white coats and working with precision, these Rome-based restorers are on a mission to preserve.

A visit to new, state-of-the-art recording facility Studio 33, in Rome with photographer Luigi Fiano for Monocle. This is also where much of the ‘From the Moon’ podcast is recorded.

A tour around the impeccably curated yet unstuffy Tuscan home of architect Roberto Bacciochi. It is a treasure chest of lovingly collected pieces, found in the medieval centre of Arezzo.

50 years after a devastating earthquake struck the region, the bold legacy that bloomed in its wake is finally getting the attention it deserves. A journey to Gibellina Nuova, and Poggioreale Nuova in Sicily.

‘Lee Miller: A Life with Food, Friends and Recipes’ is, in part, a cookbook featuring many of Miller’s meticulously researched recipes. It also intimately charts the life of an extraordinary woman.

Meet the Litas, Rome’s first all-female motorcycle club. It’s a surprising and often touching depiction of women in Italy today.

Once homeless on the streets of Paris, entrepreneur Touhami now presides over some of the city’s best retail spots, including (until very recently) the Officine Universelle Buly which he sold to LVMH.

This extensive report looks at ways to fix Rome. From environmental and urban activists to architects and entrepreneurs reversing the Roman brain drain, green shoots are growing in the cracks.

“A biennale still makes sense when it is radically local,” says Manifesta’s director Hedwig Fijen. It is Europe’s only roving art biennale and in 2018, it occupied Palermo.

According to the Italian Federation of Pharmacies, there are just shy of 1,200 chemists in Rome’s metropolitan area alone. “The Entrepreneurs” looks at six of the oldest (and best).

An exploration around and inside the village built to house athletes during the 1960 Games. Master modernist architects such as Adalberto Libera and Luigi Moretti were involved, and it still shows.