“Spirit of Place” - definition
“Spirit of Place” is the translation of “Genius Loci”, a Latin expression used by the old Romans to indicate the special atmosphere and meaning of a place. Before building a house, a temple, a palace or even a city, they first wanted to interpret the site, nature, views and understand the ‘spirit’ of that place. Then they placed windows, columns, porticoes and rooms in the right position to emphasize, interpret and welcome that Spirit. Now, the whole country of Italy is a collage of Spirit of Places. Through the centuries people always felt the need to describe and capture this “Italian Spirit” of unique places in architecture, writings, films, music, poetry, photography and other ways of communication. For the foreigner, it is something to be discovered, understood and being fascinated by.