Unseen Milan: seeing the city with new eyes

Cities thrive on layers, and Milan is no less: a constantly changing urban scene that alternates between glossy visions and shadowy areas, large-scale regeneration projects and marginal spaces, collective memories and artistic visions. To truly understand this complexity, we need other perspectives, capable of capturing what escapes the surface. We have selected five books that offer new perspectives on the city: from Paolo Ventura's dreamlike collages to the suburbs explored by Rory Gardiner, from Ugo La Pietra's irony to the photographic drifts of Rafa Jacinto and Davide Mari, to the interdisciplinary research of Knots.
 

Milan Abstract projections
Paolo Ventura - Corraini, 2024

"For me, Milan is a city drawn in the sky by hundreds of cables and wires that cross each other, run parallel, following and turning. Besides creating an abstract projection of the city, these cables hold the buildings together, like motionless marionettes. A big pair of scissors could cut one of those cables, and everything would collapse."

Abstract Projections is a tribute by Paolo Ventura to his hometown, a visual history of Milan's architecture created by using photography, painting, and collage.

Link to the book
 

Walking Milan
Rory Gardiner, Text in English by Ilaria Sponda Design by Niccolò Pisano - C41, 2024

A city’s identity is shaped by its intersecting geometries and topography, which are constantly changing. In November 2023, C41 invited architectural photographer Rory Gardiner to explore the outskirts of Milan and capture the city’s “vernacular” architecture. His focus was mainly on the QT8 neighbourhood, which is we present in Walking Milan.

Link to the book

Storie Metropolitane
Text and drawings by Ugo La Pietra, Afterword by Manuel Orazi - Marinoni Books, 2024

“Ugo La Pietra's vitality is expressed above all in his unparalleled productivity. Storie metropolitane focuses on his city, Milan, and takes the literary form of satire. La Pietra mocks the glittering Milan of its post-Expo dolce vita, where ‘you can do anything, but you have to pay for it’.” from the afterword by Manuel Orazi.

The volume collects fourteen satirical stories in which Ugo La Pietra observes Milan with irony and lucidity, recounting episodes and contradictions of urban life. The author's illustrations interact with the texts like a second voice, expanding their meaning and accompanying the narrative, completing and enriching each story.

Link to the book
 

Orbite, cammino ai margini di Milano
Photographs by Rafa Jacinto, Davide Mari, text by Luca Panaro - Seipersei, 2023

Changing and being changed by the landscape. In search of a narrative of Milan that differs from that communicated by the mass media. Photography used as a simple means and never as an end. These seem to be the cornerstones around which the poetics of the two authors develop. Rafa Jacinto and Davide Mari did not want to simply photograph the city, but to embark on a journey. First comes walking as an artistic practice, then the rendering of images. On the one hand, there is the desire to document the landscape and its transformations; on the other, the crossing of the territory through performative practices.

Link to the book 
 

Knots
Research project by the Politecnico di Milano and Prospekt - Mousse, 2025

“How are city transformations to be read? How are we to interpret the incessant metamorphosis of places and social relationships that has characterized urban contexts since their inception?” 

These questions drive Knots, a collaborative research project by the Politecnico di Milano’s Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU) and Prospekt, a photojournalism agency dedicated to chronicling urban issues worldwide. By reshaping how we question urban transformations, Knots seeks to uncover overlooked dimensions of change, particularly in Milan’s Scali. Showcasing outcomes from interdisciplinary workshops, the book highlights the value of crossing disciplinary boundaries to spark critical yet grounded discussions on the ways cities and their social fabrics evolve.

Link to the book