Conceived and curated by Marco Delogu, the editorial project ‘Le Piazze [in]visibili’ (The invisible squares) proposes an evocative journey into the beauty of Italian squares, prompting reflections on a historical moment of ‘suspension’ and on all the identity values that, throughout our history, have developed around the idea of the ‘piazza’.

Created between March and April 2020, the story of Italian squares is told through images by Olivo Barbieri, Jacopo Benassi, Luca Campigotto, Michele Cera, Giovanni Cocco, Alessandro Dandini, Eva Frapiccini, Claudia Gori, Alice Grassi, Stefano Graziani, Raffaela Mariniello, Daniele Molajoli, Luca Our, Margherita Nuti, Francesca Pompei, Flavio Scollo, Luca Spano, George Tatge and Paolo Ventura; and the written words of Edoardo Albinati, Carlo Carabba, Francesco Cataluccio, Liliana Cavani, Benedetta Cibrario, Marcello Fois, Giovanni Grasso, Helena Janeczek, Nicola Lagioia, Jhumpa Lahiri, Margherita Loy, Maurizio Maggiani, Valerio Magrelli, Salvatore Silvano Nigro, Clio Pizzingrilli, Elisabetta Rasy, Eduardo Savarese, Caterina Serra, Giorgio van Straten, Sandro Veronesi and Francesco Zanot.

The journey is enriched in time and space by the critical texts by the curator Marco Delogu, architecture historian and author of ‘L’idea di città‘ Joseph Rykwert and director of the cultural and exhibition venue Scuderie del Quirinale, Matteo Lafranconi, who reminds us of Piazza Scossacavalli in Rome, where Raphael lived, which is now invisible.

“Every time you enter a square, you find yourself in the midst of a dialogue”, wrote Italo Calvino in ‘The Invisible Cities’, the book from which the title of this project is derived. A dialogue between image and word, between established and emerging authors, between lesser known squares and iconic locations known the world over, between rediscovered architecture and a new sociality to be rethought.

After an international première launched on 2 June on the occasion of Republic Day, the full exhibition of Le Piazze [in]visibili is made available on a special website www.piazzeinvisibili.com, where the ebook is also available for free download with texts in extended version.

The editorial project is presented in a touring exhibition abroad in 2020/2023.