QUANDO IL NORD INCONTRA LA «CHIAVE DI TUTTO». La Sicilia di Ragnar Östberg

Travelling experiences along the cradle of European culture were, especially for Scandinavian architects, an outright voyage towards a contrasting cultural and geographical reality. However, assuming an unconditional fascination as natural reaction is reductive. The leading exponent of National Romanticism, Ragnar Östberg (1866-1945), left Stockholm with the consciousness of not being able of capturing the gist of classical examples. Before departing he felt conflicting feelings, akin to Goethe’s ones: an initial strong admiration for Gothic, but a contempt for Antiquity. Östberg and other scholars learnt classical architecture from the Beaux-arts viewpoint, which, at that time, was a mere imitative process of re-drawing the architectural styles. But, after visiting temples and theatres, both Goethe and the Swedish architects changed their disapproval for a fascination emanating from those strong and lively «springs» (ÖSTBERG, 1920). They alleviated his yearning for sources of reference and fed his imagination. Travelling was a source of many sketches and notes which later became inspiring repertoires for the following generations (PERSSON, 1941). Indeed, on the Östberg’s 75th birthday, his Academy students, a copious group of Swedish architects and the Association of Swedish architects re-printed a pamphlet entitled "Ur Ragnar Östberg skissbok 1897". The celebrative pamphlet contains extracts of travelogues and a selection of sketches about Italy and Greece. During his 3-year trip (1896-1899), he came into contact with the Antiquity for the first time, starting from Sicily (February-March 1897). The round trip itinerary included Palermo, Segesta, Agrigento, Siracusa and Taormina. It embodied the «clue to everything» (GOETHE, 1786-1788). What clearly emerges from Östberg’s sketches and travel notes is a vivid realism in outlining suggestive and picturesque frames of inhabitants and of a «fairy world» (LAGERLÖF, 1897), expressed by the innate bond between architecture and landscape.