Travelling event! Aino and Alvar Aalto: the Honeymoon Route in Italy 1924-2024

Italy occupies a privileged space in the lives and careers of Aino and Alvar Aalto. One hundred years ago, in October 1924, they have chosen Italy for their honeymoon, largely following an itinerary that Aino had already experienced three years earlier after graduating in architecture. The form of the travel was innovative, by seaplane from Katajanokka bay to Tallinn, then by flight to Vienna and train to cross the Alps and reach Veneto and then Tuscany.

According to the documents of the family, Aino and Alvar Aalto left Helsinki on 8th October 1924, their Italian itinerary ended in Venice on 30th October 1924. The main places they visited were Verona, Padua, Florence, but mostly Venice. This travel has been most influential, also providing a solid ground for a successful network with Italian avant-garde architects.

Back to Jyväskylä, still with little commissions, the couple oriented its proposals for the town with a clear Italian vision, the vertical town and landscape, medieval churches and paintings, Florentine Renaissance of Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti. The memory of Sacello Rucellai was mirrored in their first important work in Jyväskylä, the Workers Club. Alvar published several texts emphasizing the Humanism discovered in Italy, Aino documented the travel with beautiful photographs.

To mark the centennial of the honeymoon of the young couple, we propose a travelling event on their
footsteps, with special visits based on their memories through diaries, photos and postcards, writings and projects inspired by the journey. Supported by a large partnership of academic institutions and museums, the Honeymoon Route will go from Florence on 8th- 9th October, to Padua on 10th and Venice on 11th October 2024.

Credits photos: Aino Aalto, Aalto Family Collection ©

You will find the detailed programme for each city through the following links:

• Florence Programme, 8-9 October 2024
• Padua Programme, 10 October 2024
• Venice Programme. 11 October 2024

Registration
To register to the whole programme or part of it, email to:
Deadline: 25 September, 2024