House for the Villani family – Gorizia 1923

Silvano Barich/Baresi (Castelnuovo d'Istria 1884 – Grado 1958)

Silvano Barich/Baresi was born in 1884 in Castelnuovo d'Istria, Croatia. As a young man, he moved to Gorizia and, after graduating, went to Vienna, where he graduated in 1908 under the guidance of Max Fabiani. Among the works from his time in Gorizia before the Great War, initially recalling the principles of Venetian and Lombard eclecticism, we find the Pitteri school (1908) and the Giusto Obizzi house (1909). After the conflict, in the early 1920s, Barich returned to Gorizia, where the reconstruction effort, now underway, led to his most intense period of work. Dating back to the second decade of the century are the projects for the Pecile house, the Codermaz villa, and the homes along Corso Italia and the parallel streets, among which we find the Villani house (1922–1925), commissioned by a well-known coral merchant. The villa stands out thanks to Barich's recognizable unitary language from which some characterizing elements can be recognized such as the elegant bay windows, the ashlar base, the highly elaborate entrance portal and the pilasters surmounted by floral motifs.