A casa do imigrante italiano, a linguagem do espaço de habitar

Abstract

This study arises from an investigation which addresses literature architecture and history. It also tries to find the meanings and the transformations of the immigrants environment in the context of culture of the colonial Italian region in the northeast of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The historical focus conceived from European scenery during Italian migration and from the technological advances of the 19th century until the 1940s. The Italian immigrant settlement in the south of Brazil happened during the Imperial Government in Província de São Pedro and the land given to them were located in the highlands. The Italian immigrants manipulated nature according to their culture. They built their houses using their atavic knowledge and all materials available in the region. Analysing the context, we try to reflect on the transformations in the Italian immigrant houses though the linguistic dominance having as a body of research the trilogy of José Clemente Pozenato, A Cocanha , O Quatrilho e A babilônia , where the objective and subjective aspects of the environmental space are analysed. The iconic dominance presents images, photographs and drawings of houses built by the Italian immigrants where the physical transformation of the environmental space is represented. The literature goes beyond the objective aspects revealing the living space and gives light to the subjective aspects, giving various meanings to the Italian immigrant house.