The exhibition is promoted by the Italian Cultural Institute and the Italian Embassy in Prague in collaboration with CRAF - Spilimbergo and the 3M Archive Foundation in Milan. It tells the story of the evolution of Italian landscape from the 50s to nowadays. The anthological selection, curated by Walter Liva and Roberto Mutti, includes works by the most eminent names of Italian photography (including Gabriele Basilico, Gianni Berengo Gardin, Luigi Ghirri, Nino Migliori, Guido Guidi, Massimo Siragusa) and wisely illustrates the evolution of 'Italy between the twentieth and twenty-first century, its metamorphosis, the interaction between man and nature, between natural and urban landscape.


The photographs also document a fundamental principle enshrined in the Italian Constitution: "The Republic [...] protects the landscape and the historical and artistic heritage of the Nation" (Article 9).
Landscape is the juxtaposition of cultural heritage (ancient monuments, churches, monasteries, castles, historic centers and agricultural or anthropized areas) and natural beauties (views of mountains, seas, forests, rivers). And yet, it is at the same time the set of traditions and customs of a people, its villages and its cities. There is, in this consideration, the deep conscience that the territory and therefore the landscape of the Peninsula are complex and stratified because of the extraordinary events that took place in the country. The works on show should be "observed " as we usually do with the paintings of the great vedutisti, or veduta painters of the past centuries; that is, they must be seen and appreciated with the awareness that the landscape, the "natural framework" according to a beautiful definition by Benedetto Croce, is a primary and absolute value. To understand this, sight alone does not suffice, it is necessary to make use of the universe of sensory spheres and imaginative capacities at our disposal.