In an Italian garden surrounded by reinforced concrete, wheels, railways, cypresses, cherry trees and grapevines, Villa Il Girasole appears. In Marcellise, near Verona, Italy, this experimental rotating house was envisioned by Angelo Invernizzi in the 1930s to follow the Sun, just like the sunflowers which inspired it.  Here, opposites coexist: stillness and movement, a Rationalist approach and a Futurist sensibility. Reinforced concrete is rendered weightless, that which is fixed to the ground moves, and the building is ‘smart’, just like those of today, almost a century later.  This courageous project would later be described as ‘a prototype to reproduce and export’ by Invernizzi’s daughter Lidia, grateful to her father for having made the most immobile of materials move and for having given her rooms with a view in constant yet gentle movement.

Here to tell us the story of this extraordinary project is Mariagrazia Bertaroli. She’s the spokesperson of Il Girasole, the private foundation which is overseeing the complex restoration of the building and the creation of a permanent centre for research and culture.