Episode 74: Maria Bortolotti Casoni
The time was May 23, 1880, or 1890, the place Bologna, Maria Bortolotti was born. She came from a middle-class family. Her dad worked for the railway system and her mother was a homemaker. She entered the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Bologna in 1910. She was majoring in mathematics but then she decided also to enter an engineering school. So she graduated in 1916 with a degree in Mathematics and two years later with a degree in Engineering. When she graduated from the engineering school in 1918 it made her the third woman in the country to be an engineering graduate. The first was Emma Strada, who graduated from the Polytechnic University of Turin in 1908; the second was Gaetanina Calvi, who graduated from the Polytechnic University of Milan in 1914.
Immediately Maria got to work, she kept busy with projects. She designed and managed several construction sites. She eventually opened up her own construction company and engineering studio with other colleagues, including a lawyer, Manlio Casoni, whom she married in 1924. Five years later they moved to Rome. After WWII she was part of the reconstruction efforts in Italy. Her work focused on residential complexes.
Throughout her career, she thrived as a civil engineer, and interior and furniture designer, she was recognized in the “Almanacco della donna italiana”. Almanac of the Italian Woman, and she collaborated with Elena Luzzato, the first licensed woman architect in Italy. She passed away in 1971.
Caryatid: Dr Ornella Iuorio
Dr Ornella Iuorio is a professor, researcher, and designer working at the intersection between Architecture and Structures. She studied architecture and civil engineering at the “University Federico II'' in Naples and “University Gabriele D’Annunzio” in Chieti – Pescara, she has MArch (hons) degree in Architecture and a Phd in Structural Engineering from Johns Hopkins. she is Professor of Architecture & Structures, Director of Cities, Infrastructure and Energy, and Program Leader in Architecture Engineering at the School of Civil Engineering in the University of Leeds. In 2022 the Women Engineering Society named her one of the top 50 Women in Engineering for her work and research in lightweight structures. Her research involves prefab and robotic assemblies and constructions. Also, she is leading the international Novavida project, which is a collaboration between academics and communities to reimagine post-disaster infrastructure development.
References
“[Carta] 1946 Giugno 26, Lanuvio, Roma, [Italia] [a] Gabriela Mistral [Manuscrito] Maria Casoni Bortolotti. - BND: Archivo Del Escritor.” Biblioteca Nacional Digital: Archivo Del Escritor, www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/623/w3-article-135860.html. Accessed 2 Apr. 2023.
Hakimian, Rob. “14 Civil Engineers Named Among Top 50 Women in Engineering 2022 | New Civil Engineer.” New Civil Engineer, 29 June 2022, www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/14-civil-engineers-named-among-top-50-women-in-engineering-2022-23-06-2022.
Loffredo, Ramona. “Pubblicazioni.” Kerylos Architettura, www.kerylosarchitettura.it/pubblicazioni. Accessed 2 Apr. 2023.
Patuelli, Francesca. “Bortolotti Casoni Maria.” Scienza a Due Voci, 2010, scienzaa2voci.unibo.it/biografie/98-bortolotti-casoni-maria. Accessed 2 Apr. 2023.
Sciences, Faculty of Engineering and Physical. Professor Ornella Iuorio | School of Civil Engineering | University of Leeds. eps.leeds.ac.uk/civil-engineering/staff/749/professor-ornella-iuorio.
Spesso, Marco. “L’Architettura Italiana Nel Movimento Moderno 1926-1945.” libreriauniversitaria.it Edizioni, Aug. 2017, www.google.com/books/edition/Larchitettura_italiana_nel_movimento_mod/yPl9DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1. Accessed 2 Apr. 2023.
Turner, Ali. “Two Awe-Inspiring Leeds Women Helping to Shape the Future of Engineering.” Leeds-List, 7 Dec. 2022, leeds-list.com/business/two-awe-inspiring-leeds-women-helping-to-shape-the-future-of-engineering. Accessed 2 Apr. 2023.
