essay

The 'archvilla': an Italian Canadian architectural archetype

Studies in Italian American folkloreLogan, UtahPublished In 1993 • Pages: 53-105

By: Del Giudice, Luisa.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This paper is a study of the Italian Canadian 'archvilla', an architectual style involving the wide spread use of the arch in house and other building construction. In this article Del Giudice attempts to '…(1) place in relief the centrality of the home and family foyer in the Italian worldview; (2) examine briefly the immigrant's domestic environment, his interiorized 'dreamscapes', and how he occupies and animates his built habitat; and (3) explore the sources and meaning of the arch as the archetypal architectual expression of Italian ethnicity' (p. 53). This document also contains information on the gardens and grounds surrounding the home, the Italian's ancestral relationship to the land, the CANTINE or storage room within the house for food and wine, the 'archvilla' and its relationshp to the deeply embedded myth of Rome, and the nationalistic ideologies and styles exploited by Fascism in Italy in architectual design. This study has resulted from a synthesis of the author's personal experience and memory and corroborated through field work and archival research.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Sociocultural trends
Architecture
Dwellings
Status, role, and prestige
Political movements
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Italian Canadians
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2000
RegionThe area the document pertains to
North America
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Regional, Ethnic and Diaspora Cultures
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypesThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Indigenous Person
Folklorist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
John Beierle; 2000
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
no date
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
not specified
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
NotesAdditional notes
Luisa Del Giudice
Includes bibliographical references (p.102-105)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
93021459
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Italians--Canada