The prison of Regina Coeli : a laboratory of identity in the Post-Risorgimento Italy

In my thesis I am studying the prison of Regina Coeli in Rome. Completed in 1892, it occupies the space of the convent after which it was named: the convent of Santa Maria Regina Coeli. The particular prison was built in the aftermath of the Italian unification when national identity was still formulated and the economy industrialized. At the same period, the discussion on prison architecture was shifting from an interest in the panopticon-centered structures to the architecture of the cell. Penitentiaries were transformed from sites of mere constrain, to sites of correction, to later develop into laboratories of identity. Along with the research on the typical cell, the field of criminology was objectifying the criminal body, in pursuit of the delinquent type. Although rarely documented, Regina Coeli was built in this transition before modernity appeared in the structure of the penitentiary institutions.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Touloumi, Olga

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Mark Jarzombek.

• Architecture.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/35125

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/35125