ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews a selected number of Pietro Porcinai’s landscapes, and focuses on his acceptance and modeling of the topography—and at its extreme, its construction. Earth is the fundamental material of the landscape, and its acknowledgment or refutation provides the starting point for the design of any garden. In many of Pietro Porcinai’s villa landscapes the swimming pool became a feature of major importance and impact. The 1962 Villa Bonomi could well serve as a lexicon for Pietro Porcinai’s surface treatments. The contours of the hillside were also reshaped and softened, with rhododendrons and Japanese maples that dot the remodeled grassed slopes. The swimming pool served as an ornamental form when empty and a welcome recreational amenity when filled. For the swimmer, the view conjoined the water in the pool with the sea beyond, and forged a visual as well as psychological bond between the small constructed body of the swimming pool and the greater expanse of the Mediterranean.
