[Book review] Girardelli, Paolo and Godoli, Ezio (editors), 2017. Italian Architects and Builders in the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey – Design Across Borders. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Hard Cover, 5-285 pp. ISBN: (13) 978-1-2238-5194-7.

Abstract

This volume is the product of an international conference that was held in Istanbul in March 2013 and that was organized in collaboration with the Italian Institute of Culture and Boğaziçi University, Turkey. The book’s main theme relates to the experiences of Italian architects and builders who practised in Turkey as well as in territories that once belonged to the Ottoman Empire. In terms of territory it covers intricate cultural and political geographical regions from the Danubian principalities to Anatolia and the Aegean region. The volume collates together the research findings of seventeen scholars, each of whom submitted contributions on the legacies of individual Italian architects and builders within an Ottoman/Turkish context. As one may expect, one may encounter the occasional minor overlap but generally-speaking each individual contribution can be read as a stand-alone and autonomous research paper.