Milan in the age of Enlightenment

Ever since the Treaty of Raastadt in 1714, whereby the dukedom of Milan transitioned from Spanish to Austrian ruling, the city has been going through intensive urban renovation under the influence of the illuminist theories meant at making the city a plank in the thought. For a long time up to the Napoleonic city plans Milan has been redesigned by means of urban and architectural projects. Although part of these projects never came to light, the construction of public and private buildings and parks, the resettlement of facades of previously existing monuments and of the city walls, by insertion of gates and tollhouses, and a partial realization of the “rettifili” have given Milan a strong identity and made the city represent the illuminist thought as a testimony of the coincidence between thought and work. The photographic project originates from the intention to represent this exact historical moment, the coincidence between thought and work as a remembrance of a process of civil construction. The project is currently work in progress.