Building Styles brought to Egypt by the Italian Community between 1850 and 1950

This research paper explores the ways to design and build imported by Italian master craftsmen working in Egypt between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with particular reference to the work of Mario Rossi, the chief architect of the Ministry of Awqaf from 1929 to 1954. Through their architectural knowledge Italian technicians, arriving as political exiles because of the Risorgimento motions and later as migrants to seek their fortune, built the modern face of Egypt after the industrial revolution, in a moment marked by the possibilities of new technology and materials. It is often ignored that more than just façade style, they also imported types and above all construction systems, techniques, materials and a workforce. They generated an updated process in continuity with the indigenous traditions. The approach to the theme of overseas architecture goes beyond the limitations of historiographical and archival research to investigate the domains of execution and construction.