CASA MALAPARTE IN CAPRI

An icon without an architect / Sublime timelessness

It is strange: a house created without an architect has become a cult object for architecture students around the world.

Curzio Malaparte was a journalist and a writer, the son of a diplomat. He was imprisoned and exiled by the Italian Fascist Party, which, at first, he supported. He lived an extreme life; he was a professional agitator and a complex intellectual who built his own home in 1937. He did so in an isolated area of the island of Capri, on a crag, with prior drawings by the architect Adalberto Libera that he then discarded. Modern, timeless, surrealist, harsh; a clump of red brick blended into the stone, involved in its marvellous surroundings. Each window frames a landscape. It is filled with symbolism; a large staircase leads to the deck with a “sail” as if going on a journey like the “Annunziata” stairway of the church leads to God. This is a transcendent villa.

The intellectual Jean Luc Godard, a French director, used this villa to shoot “Le Mepris” (“Contempt”) in 1963. It was a sensually and erotically charged adaptation of Alberto Moravia’s novel, starring Brigitte Bardot and Michel Piccoli. Incidentally, Fritz Lang, another cinema director, played himself in the movie.

An UOMO perfumes ad was also filmed in Casa Malaparte and it can be easily found on YouTube.

As it was to be expected, both its creator and the villa –an architectural gem– are linked to multiple and interesting artistic expressions.

Curzio Malaparte wrote “La pelle” (1949), a novel about a decaying post-war Italy. The director Liliana Cavani adapted it to the cinema in 1981 with an impressive cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Burt Lancaster, and other famous actors.

In “Diario di uno straniero a Parigi” (“Diary of a Foreigner in Paris”), Malaparte writes about meeting with friends after years in prison. Harshly, mixing memories and dialogues with writers, cineastes, actors, and intellectuals, he depicts the transformation that would completely change Europe.

Un icono sin arquitecto / Atemporalidad sublime

Curioso, una casa hecha sin arquitecto convertida en objeto de culto para los estudiantes de arquitectura de todo el mundo.

Curzio Malaparte, periodista, escritor, hijo de diplomático, preso y exiliado por el Partido Fascista Italiano, al que en un principio había apoyado. Dueño de una vida extrema, irritador profesional, intelectual complejo, construyó su propia casa en 1937 en un sitio aislado de la isla de Capri, sobre un peñón, con dibujos previos del arquitecto Adalberto Libera que después desechó. Moderna, atemporal, surrealista, severa, un macizo de ladrillos rojos fundidos con la piedra, involucrada con su maravilloso entorno, cada ventana enmarca un paisaje. Llena de simbolismo, una gran escalinata lleva a la cubierta con su “vela” como si fuera a emprender un viaje. Muchos encuentran un paralelismo con la escalinata de la catedral de San Andrés Apóstol en Amalfi, cuya pronunciada pendiente parece un camino hacia Dios. Una villa trascendente.

El director de culto del cine francés Jean Luc Godard la utilizó para rodar Le Mepris (El desprecio) en 1963. Adaptación de una novela de Alberto Moravia, cargada de sensualidad y erotismo, y como actores protagónicos: Brigitte Bardot y Michel Piccoli. Como curiosidad, el propio director de cine Fritz Lang se interpreta a sí mismo en uno de los roles del film.

Como es de esperar, tanto su autor como la casa, una joya de la arquitectura, están vinculados a múltiples expresiones artísticas realmente interesantes.