Brazil and Pier Luigi Nervi

L 30/Q 807

On April 21st, 1960, the new federal capital Brasilia was inaugurated, on the same date of the Founding of Rome.

For the headquarters of the diplomatic missions, friendly nations were offered rectangular lots, lined up one after the other in front of the artificial lake.

Projects by some of the most important architects in the world are to be found here. Italy was given the number 30 of Square 807.

A friendly land

Building something in Brazil had been one of Nervi’s wishes since 1950, when he had visited the country and lectured at the Masp in São Paulo. Many were the projects he designed in South America before the Embassy.

And many were the friends he had here: Pier Maria Bardi and his wife Lina, but also Lucio Costa, whom he had met during the project for the Unesco headquarters in Paris.