Alberto Campo Baeza in Melilli: Building with Light in the Sant'Antonio Pirrera

EDITORIAL TEAM | PRESS RELEASE

A master of contemporary architecture meets a timeless place. The Pirrera Sant'Antonio —the evocative Cava del Barocco nestled in the Climiti Mountains —will host a keynote lecture by Alberto Campo Baeza , a Madrid-born architect among the most influential on the international scene. The title, Construir con la luz (Building with Light ), captures the essence of a design philosophy that has made light, silence, and gravity its " absolutes and eternals ."

E(x)terna | Lectio magistralis by Alberto Campo Baeza: Construir con la luz

As part of E(x)terna , a series of initiatives dedicated to the third mission and the dialogue between the university and the local area, in collaboration with the Municipality of Melilli and the Pino Valenti Museum Foundation from Melilli as partners , the master lecture by Professor Alberto Campo Baeza , one of the most authoritative contemporary architects, will be held.

📅 December 4, 2025, 4:30 PM 📍 Pirrera Sant'Antonio – Cava del Barocco , Melilli (SR)

An extraordinary place

Nestled in the heart of the Climiti Mountains , the Pirrera Sant'Antonio – Cava del Barocco is an underground quarry covering approximately 2,500 m² , entirely hand-crafted by the stonemasons . Its vaults, up to 27 meters high, and the luminous stone that rebuilt Melilli after the 1693 earthquake tell a story of hard work, ingenuity, and memory. In this unique setting, a unique encounter will take place, where architecture and landscape dialogue through light.

An unrepeatable encounter

The lecture Construir con la luz will offer the public the opportunity to engage with one of the masters of contemporary architecture, in a context that amplifies his thinking: a space carved into the rock, where light and shadows create natural architecture.

Maestro Alberto Campo Baeza

Born in Valladolid in 1946, Campo Baeza developed an independent and radical design philosophy from the late Franco years. His architecture is distinguished by pure and rigorous forms , calibrated in their relationships between solids and voids; introverted buildings , carved out of the material, with patios and internal courtyards as devices of light and silence; a purist and abstract vocabulary , born of Mies less is more " , but rooted in the Mediterranean vernacular.

From his first works – the Fene Town Hall , the Onil and Aspe nurseries – up to the famous Casa Gaspar (Cadiz, 1992) , Campo Baeza has defined a personal and unmistakable language, in which light becomes the absolute protagonist.

Who is Alberto Campo Baeza? 

A Madrid-born architect born in Valladolid in 1946, Campo Baeza trained during the late Franco years, immediately establishing an independent and radical design approach. His architecture is characterized by a search for pure forms, rigorous in their proportions and solid/empty relationships. He favors introverted buildings, carved out of the material, where patios and internal courtyards become fundamental devices for welcoming light, silence, and gravity: elements considered by the architect himself as "absolute and eternal." From his early works—such as the Fene Town Hall and the nurseries in Onil and Aspe —in which traces of Le Corbusier's "white cathedrals" , to more mature works such as the celebrated Casa Gaspar (Cadiz, 1992) , Campo Baeza defines a personal and unmistakable language. The Mediterranean vernacular reference, filtered through a process of subtraction inspired by Mies's "less is more" ethos, becomes a purist, abstract lexicon in which light is the absolute protagonist.

A unique encounter in a timeless setting. The lecture will offer the public the opportunity to engage in dialogue with one of the masters of contemporary architecture, in a context that amplifies his thinking: a space carved into the rock, where light and shadows create natural architecture.