La città che scegliamo – Incontro con Gianni Biondillo

There was a generation of architects who believed in Fascism because they deluded themselves into thinking it was a revolution, like the artistic revolution they themselves advocated: Rationalism. They fought a war with unequal weapons against academicism—centralist and Roman—without realizing that while Mussolini placated and praised them, he was in fact supporting a far more rhetorical form of architecture, better suited to his megalomania. Milan was the forge of these artistic tensions, open to Europe as a possibility of emancipation from suffocating provincial backward-looking attitudes. They came from all over Italy: Istrian irredentists like Pagano, Comacine masters like Terragni, restless Neapolitans like Persico. And then all the others, sons of the Politecnico: Figini, Pollini, Bottoni, Banfi, Belgiojoso, Peressutti, Rogers.

Quello che noi non siamo is the collective novel of men and women who became aware of the collapse of false ideologies and chose to take a stand in the name of Resistance and freedom, often paying the price: imprisonment, torture, concentration camps. A profound portrait of an era that resembles our own more than we would like to admit.

The dialogue with Alessandro Coppola broadens the perspective to the level of contemporary urban planning: what cities are we building today? What values guide urban transformations? This reflection is complemented by the contribution of Giampiero Bosoni, who enriches the discussion by bringing a perspective rooted in design, objects, and the languages of the contemporary.

Between memory and project, inclusion and exclusion, vision and standardization, the meeting between Gianni Biondillo and professors Alessandro Coppola and Giampiero Bosoni questions the very meaning of building cities. Because it is in urban space that collective decisions become visible, and where the act of building over time takes shape as a shared responsibility.

Gianni Biondillo (Milan, 1966) is a writer, architect, and psychogeographer. He has written noir fiction, historical novels, children’s books, reportage, and short stories. Through his literary work he has won the “Premio Scerbanenco” (2011), the “Prix Violeta Negra” (2014), the “Premio Bergamo” (2018), the “Premio Dora Nera” (2022), and the “Premio Bagutta” (2024). As an essayist, he has explored and interpreted the space of the contemporary metropolis. He also writes for cinema, theatre, and television. His works have been translated into several European languages.