Dear Professor, – as I had always called him for 38 years until just a few weeks ago when I last spoke to him on the phone, – there have been many precious memories and experiences with you that have profoundly influenced me in my training and professional career. Some of the most inspirational ones were the Design Studio 4 about the smaller islands in Venice, the Workshop at the Casa dei Tre Oci on the “land-water limit” with the teaching trio of professors Gregotti, Kleihues and Siza, the Thesis on the IBA areas of Berlin, the 9 years of intense collaboration in the studio in Via Bandello, as well as the 2 years in Lisbon for the Belém Cultural Center project, where the meetings were held only on Saturdays and Sundays and the Professor showed up to work with us, always very active and focused, but also always in a good mood, at work as well as during dinners with Manuel Salgado, Alvaro Siza and the many other friends who stopped by.
The years in Milan were extraordinary for me, spent in the “bottega”, as he liked to call the studio, working day and night. I fondly remember the meetings together with great intellectuals and his friends, such as Gianni Vattimo, Guido Martinotti, Umberto Eco and many others, discussing the new General Development Plan for the future of Turin. I also remember the little moments of daily life in Via Circo, where I had the fortune and privilege to live for two years, on the top floor above his home, the former studio’s guesthouse; while living there, as a young architect, I was invited to business lunches with his illustrious and famous friends, architects and intellectuals, such as Joseph Ryckwert, O.M. Ungers, Kenneth Frampton and many many others, including diplomatic delegates from other countries such as the Russian one, who spoke very little English.
In addition to listening and being able to shyly speak to these extraordinary personalities, just looking at the living room table covered in books was a lesson in and of itself; the most interesting and current papers were always all there, already read or in the process of being read and I always tried to keep them in mind or take a few notes to then go and buy them.

Dear Maestro, today for the first time I gave myself permission to call you by your first name, to express my gratitude, for both your teachings and for all the foundational experiences that I have had the privilege of enjoying over the years thanks to you, and most of all, for the friendship and support that, even during the last few years since I moved to Venice, you have shown me by giving me the opportunity to meet with you.

I thank you for all the meetings in your beautiful home, in nearby restaurants or at your friend Arrigo Cipriani’s house, chatting with inexhaustible enthusiasm and passion about the future of Venice, the University and possible new projects. Even though these last few projects did not come to fruition, they gave me nonetheless the precious opportunity to discuss them with you and to fully grasp and treasure, to the very last moment, your great intellectual depth and generosity that has so enriched me and that I will never forget.

Thank you Vittorio!