Milan's wounds: art that sews up the city's historical memory on display

From February 28 to March 30, 2025, Triennale Milano welcomes an exhibition that promises to leave a deep mark on the city’s collective memory: The Wounds of Milan. How Art Can Sew History Back Together. Curated by Spazio Taverna, the studio founded by Ludovico Pratesi and Marco Bassan, the exhibition is a symbolic journey through ten traumas that have marked Milan’s destiny. Each trauma is associated with a specific date and place, places and moments that have become indelible scars in the city’s identity. The exhibition is developed around ten historical traumas that the city has experienced, events that have transformed Milan psychologically. From the execution of Amatore Sciesa during the Austrian repressions (Aug. 2, 1851) to the Milan Riots of 1898 (May 6, 1898), via the bloody massacre at the Diana Theater (March 23, 1921) and the Piazza Giulio Cesare bombing (April 12, 1928), the narrative spans time, from the Piazza Fontana massacre (Dec. 12, 1969) and themurder of Commissioner Luigi Calabresi (May 17, 1972) to the death of Walter Tobagi (May 28, 1980), to the scandals of Tangentopoli (Feb. 17, 1992), the Via Palestro bomb (July 27, 1993) and the tragic Linate plane crash (Oct. 8, 2001).

The artists selected for this project are prominent figures in the Italian contemporary art scene. Camilla Alberti, Francesco Arena, Stefano Arienti, Ruth Beraha, Valentina Furian, Marcello Maloberti (in collaboration with Fortunato Zinni, a survivor of the 1969 massacre), Liliana Moro, Diego Perrone, Paola Pivi, and Luca Vitone were invited to develop a drawing on paper that represents the collective integration of the trauma related to each of Milan’s symbolic wounds. Through their works, these artists pose as mediators between historical memory and the present, seeking to stitch up the city’s scars, not by forgetting, but by healing. Through visual language, the artists reinterpret and rework these traumas, resulting in symbolic narratives that challenge the viewer to reflect on pain and the ability to overcome it. Each work becomes an act of redemption, an invitation not to forget, but to experience the past as a tool to build a more conscious future.

The project The Wounds of Milan is not an isolated case. The Milan exhibition is in fact the episode that continues the work begun in Rome in February 2023 with The Wounds of Rome. The latter involved internationally renowned artists such as Enzo Cucchi, Elisabetta Benassi, Luigi Ontani and Marco Tirelli, among others. Both projects stem from the same idea: to use art to come to terms with the past, to reframe historical wounds and offer the public a way to deal with them. The Triennale Milano exhibition fits perfectly into the broader program of the Triennale, which continues its commitment to the promotion and enhancement of the Italian art scene. The exhibition is supported by prestigious institutional partners, including Deloitte, Fondazione Deloitte, Lavazza Group and Salone del Mobile.Milano, who help make possible the realization of this ambitious project of important cultural value.

Milan's wounds: art that sews up the city's historical memory on display

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