Firenze la città nuova

PRESS RELEASE

Florence, 3 October 2003

'FIRENZE LA CITTÀ NUOVA': (FLORENCE: THE NEW CITY) AN EXHIBITION IN THE SALA D'ARME THAT TELLS THE STORY OF A CHANGING CITY IN PICTURES AND FILM. 'AN INITIATIVE TO INFORM AND INVOLVE THE CITIZENS OF FLORENCE' SAYS MAYOR DOMENICI

Florence as it is now and how it will be in the future: the main transformations and innovations that are taking place in the city and changing its appearance, are now being shown in an exhibition with images, films, drawings, maps, texts and interactive paths. In many cases, the work concerns the infrastructure and is considered strategic by the local administration for the development and growth of the city. There are also smaller-scale projects which aim to improve the quality of life in the 'quartieri' (the administrative districts into which the city is divided) and to develop facilities and opportunities for local people. Some of the sixteen projects presented have been completed, the majority are in progress while others are in the final planning stages.
The exhibition 'Firenze la città nuova' was inaugurated today by the mayor Leonardo Domenici and the town council in the Sala d'Arme of Palazzo Vecchio where it will be housed until after the Christmas festivities. The exhibition (open daily, free of charge, from 10am-10pm) was the brainchild of the municipal department of communications and offers all Florentines, but also anyone working or studying in Florence, the opportunity to form a clear idea of how the city is changing. The Sala D'Arma was chosen to house the event both for its prestige and its central location and may be used for other similar events in the future since this is really 'work in progress' which will develop alongside the changes in the city.
'This exhibition aims to inform and involve Florentines and to make them share, as protagonists, in the process of transforming their city', explains mayor Domenici. 'We're not saying 'we'll amaze you with special effects': what we want is to encourage, albeit with innovative technological instruments, the growth of democratic participation in the changes that Florence is going through. The exhibition is an occasion to stimulate, rather than suppress, debate on the works in progress, on those already completed and on those about to begin'.
The 'journey' in the Florence of the present and the future takes in Fortezza da Basso, the High Speed train station, Piazza Santa Maria Novella, the Uffizi and Piazza Castellani, the old 'Murate', the banks of the Arno and the Saschall theatre, the athletics stadium, the Forte Belvedere, the old Fiat area, the Vamba school, 'Meccanotessile', three city squares (former Longinotti, Vittorio Veneto, Alberti), the Oltrarno with the recovery of complexes known as 'Leopoldine', the 'Conventino' and 'San Gaggio', le Piagge, San Bartolo and the tramway.
'La Sala d'Arme is the heart of the event but the exhibition has a modular layout so that it can accommodate other material and images and also be transferred to other places such as the 'quartieri' or schools, for example,' says Elisabetta Tesi, councillor in charge of communications. 'The spirit of the exhibition is to use innovative techniques to demonstrate all the transformations to the city.'
The exhibition is a way of allowing Florentines to understand, with the help of multimedia resources, just how their city is changing and the repercussions for daily life. The tram project, for example, can be seen in detail by using an electronic board, made with the contribution of the University of Florence: when various points on the map are selected, the particular area is highlighted, showing the main roads and squares and indicating the tram and train routes and the location of the stops.
The subjects in the exhibition were selected on the basis of their importance to the city and as part of the Florentine cultural heritage and also in relation to their significance in terms of health and the environment. All work is awarded equal importance, whether in the suburbs or inner city.
Each project is described in a short film projected in the Sala D'Arme on screens (real sails anchored to the vaults). The images are accompanied by a musical score conceived for the purpose of engaging the visitor's attention but there is no soundtrack for the various projects, which are narrated only by images and visual texts.
Those interested can then satisfy their curiosity and learn more about any subject by operating one of the four workstations with transparent screens and simple controls to pay a virtual visit to each project and explore it. It is also possible to 'visit' the exhibition by clicking on the Florence council network (www.comune.fi.it) which features special technology for visually impaired users.
To coincide with the exhibition, a series of postcards has been printed presenting the seven projects displayed in their final state (Piazza Santa Maria Novella, the former Longinotti area, the high speed train station, the old Fiat area, the old Murate, piazza Castellani and the Fortezza da Basso); the postcards will be distributed free of charge inside the Sala d'Arme.
The design materials and texts in the films were supplied by the departments for the environment, homes and residential council housing, culture, innovation, education, public works and technical facilities, sport and urban planning and also by Sitimet Spa, the University of Florence - Centre for communications and media integration and the University of Siena - the Department of Archaeology and Art History.
The original idea, feasibility study, direction, programme for the multimedia interactive workstations, production and post-production, films and logotype are by Bruno Spinazzola - Surproduction S.a.s., the video is by Surproduction S.a.s. - Max Media Studio, DLF S.r.l., the web-site by DLF S.r.l., project layout by Franco Facchinelli - Business Architecture, mounting by the In Forma Progetti S.r.l, the advertising campaign by B&A S.r.l; with a contribution from Paolo Caratelli.
The event cost a total of 339 thousand Euro, covering the production of video material, mounting, web-site, and personnel for the exhibition room. The films and images used for the exhibition, which will be added to with each new project, constitute a patrimony which can be distributed with other multimedia resources and will form the basis for other information and communication events in the city. (vp)