Milan

Born in Milan in 1891, Gio Ponti began his career as a designer in 1923, taking part in the Biennial Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Monza. From 1923 to 1930 he worked for the Richard Ginori ceramics manufactory, and in 1928 he founded the magazine Domus. From 1936 to 1961 he was a professor in the faculty of architecture of the Politecnico di Milano. In 1941 he launched another magazine, Stile, published until 1947. His works are numerous. In the field of furnishing, the Superleggera chair of 1955 and the furnishings for the ocean liners Giulio Cesare and Andrea Doria deserve mention. As for architecture, the Institute of Mathematics in Rome (1932-34), the Villa Pianchart in Caracas (1954), the Pirelli skyscraper in Milan (1955-60), the Co-Cathedral of Taranto (1971) and the Museum of Modern Art in Denver (1972). He died in 1979

is housed in a nineteenth-century building in the Giardini di Porta Venezia, in the city centre.

The building was constructed by Giovanni Ceruti between 1888 and 1893, the year in which it was inaugurated, and completed in 1907. In 1943, as a result of the bombing, it was almost completely destroyed. Only part of the library and some of the collections that were housed in protected rooms were saved from the disaster.

The Museum was re-opened to the public in 1952 and, since then, has been the object of continual restoration and re-furbishing, such as always to ensure a style of display suited to new requirements.

The scientific sections currently covered by the Museum are: Mineralogy, Palaeontology, Palaeoethnology, Botany, Invertebrate zoology, Entomology, and Vertebrate zoology.

Dioramas, stuffed animals, model skeletons and graphic documents make this Museum not only the largest and most important collection in Italy, but also one of the most well-known and recognised in Europe.

The Museum, in addition to the exhibitions, is strongly committed to museum education and research, with the use of internal laboratories and collections that are essentially dedicated to scientific study and research.

Inside the Museum there is also a rich Library, specialising in all the fields of natural sciences.

Altogether the displays occupy twenty-three rooms, covering an area of 5000 square metres, and the collections contain about two and a half million specimens.

In the first room, in addition to the display cases illustrating the history of the Museum, we find: a bookshop specialising in scientific and popular-science books, some display cases devoted to the exhibition of new materials and to small temporary exhibitions, and, finally, a part dedicated to the Settala Museum, which brings together the natural history objects that survive from the old Museum.

Rooms two and three are dedicated to Mineralogy and, looking more closely, we may note that in room three a classification of the minerals on a crystal-chemical basis has been created. For each class the most important minerals have been described and various significant specimens put on display. In this room we would also point out an exhibition of Pedology, the science that studies soils, with one part devoted to a general introduction, to the characteristics and importance of soils, and another to the fundamental types typical of Lombardy.

Rooms four to eight are dedicated to Palaeontology, the science that studies fossils, the remains of animals and plants that lived in remote eras and are now for the most part extinct. In these rooms visitors can admire insects trapped in amber, small fish inside a slab of rock, an exceptional case of the preservation of soft parts provided by a cuttlefish from the French Jurassic, and a gigantic life-size model of a Pteranodon, a large flying reptile that lived about 70 million years ago and whose wingspan measured about 6 metres.

The collection includes other extraordinary pieces, among which we may mention a dromaeosaur, a fast and very ferocious carnivore, casts of the skeleton of a camptosaurus, of a stegosaurus and of a tyrannosaurus, and also the life-size reconstructions of a triceratops and of a tyrannosaurus skull.

Room Eight, on the other hand, is entirely dedicated to fossils from Italian deposits belonging to different eras: Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, cenozoica.

We then come to Room Nine, which deals with another sector of the natural sciences: the origin and evolution of man. The centre and left side of the room are reserved for temporary exhibitions.

This sector has been divided into two sections: the first analyses the anthropoid apes, the primates closest to man, in particular detail, while the second is dedicated to the evolutionary history of man, with a careful presentation of the main characteristics of the hominids: the upright posture, the evolution of the brain and the use of the hand. From Room Ten to Room Twenty-Three the Museum offers a very rich display covering the sector of Zoology, which is divided into the zoology of invertebrates, entomology and the zoology of vertebrates.

Room Ten is reserved for the systematics, anatomy, morphology and biology of the lower invertebrates, molluscs and arthropods (animals with legs jointed in segments). Of note are two specimens of exceptional size: for the molluscs, a giant clam (class of bivalves) and, for the arthropods, a giant crab from Japan (class of crustaceans).

Room Eleven is dedicated to entomology. The insect exhibition, which can be considered arthropods that have reached a very high level of evolution and have occupied every type of environment, is divided into four sections: biology, ecology, systematics and history of entomology.

From Room Twelve begin the displays concerning living vertebrates, and they alternate between those dedicated to systematics and biology and those in which ecology is presented through evocative dioramas, in which certain protected areas of the world, such as parks and nature reserves, are perfectly reconstructed.

We shall now give a quick overview of the subjects treated in the above-mentioned rooms.

13 – amphibians and reptiles.

14 – the equatorial forests and humid tropical environments.

16 – temperate forests, taiga and mountains.

17 – mammals, the most highly evolved vertebrates, with a classification that first considers the animals that reproduce by means of eggs, but suckle their young (platypus and echidna), one then moves on to the order of edentates (armadillos, anteaters, etc.) and, finally, to the primates (rodents, proboscideans, etc.)

18 – Arctic and Antarctic environments, marine mammals. Among all the specimens on display, what stands out is, hanging from the ceiling, a skeleton 19.30 metres long, of a fin whale, recovered in Sardinia in the last century.

19 – African savannah. Here is the largest diorama in the whole Museum, inspired by the African savannah of northern Tanzania, characterised by the presence of a large adult male elephant and a white rhinoceros, now almost extinct due to indiscriminate hunting.

20 – savannahs, prairies and deserts. Here the most important grasslands and deserts of the world are represented.

Finally, we come to the last three rooms, dedicated to the parks and nature reserves of Italy, where the vertebrates of our fauna take centre stage. Room Twenty-One houses dioramas set in the most important Italian national parks: the Abruzzo, the Stelvio and the Gran Paradiso. Room Twenty-Three, on the other hand, contains no fewer than twenty-six small and medium-sized dioramas which, unlike those in the other two rooms, deal in particular with birds, amphibians and reptiles.

This house, the first to be designed and lived in by Ponti, seems almost a small Palladian monument. Its plan takes the form of a fan-shape with a concave façade decorated by obelisks. Among the features of the apartments, mention should be made of the almost total absence of corridors and of a staircase, designed in such a way that it can also be viewed from below.

The design of this building, drawn up by Gio Ponti and Emilio Lancia, is characterized by an L-shaped plan and a corner tower. The structure is in reinforced concrete and brick, with pile foundations and reinforced-concrete floors with terracotta elements. Red Terranova plaster was used to face the façades, except for the ground floor and first floor, for which travertine slabs were used. Decoration is rather limited and the architecture is resolved through an extraordinary relationship between mass, materials and colour. In this project Ponti tries to adapt the elements of tradition to a new layout, represented by a new formula of dwelling: the condominium. The classical elements are therefore understood as a purely figurative matter, and their use serves the need of the middle-class residents for a sense of identity.

Composed of two chapels, this monument presents an almost square plan. The structure is in concrete and the external covering is of slabs of marble of differing heights. The frontal façade has two entrances, one on the left that leads to the upper chapel with the altar and the monument dedicated to the head of the family and one on the right that leads directly to the lower chapel with the tombs.

The building complex for Italcima stands on a trapezoidal plot and consists of three different buildings: a factory for the production of chocolate, a smaller building for offices and housing, and a porter’s lodge. The load-bearing frame of the factory is in reinforced concrete, with the pillars set back from the perimeter wall, and it has four storeys above ground. The openings on the main front are ribbon windows, screened by cantilevered slabs. The smaller building, which stands in front of the factory, has three storeys above ground, and the porter’s lodge houses the caretaker’s flat. The complex was designed by Baldessari and Ponti. Noteworthy in this complex are its urban and stylistic unity, but above all the designers’ success in achieving their aim of creating an extremely functional building.

TYPICAL HOUSES IN VIA DE TOGNI – DOMUS JULIA, FAUSTA, CAROLA (1931-32, 1932-33, 1932-33) via De Togni 21, 23, 25 The three buildings each have a small garden in front, facing the street. The structure of the three houses is in solid brick, the floors in reinforced concrete and brick, the roofing in Eternit sheets on a sloping surface. All the apartments share common features: a double entrance, one for the family and one for service, and linoleum floors. - The Domus Julia has seven storeys above ground in all, arranged as a double-depth block, and each floor contains a single apartment. The façade is faced with travertine up to the third floor, while green Terranova plaster was used for the floors above. - The Domus Fausta has a square plan, with six habitable floors on the street side and seven on the courtyard side. The façade is finished in yellow-ochre and grey Terranova plaster, the base in Vicenza stone and the doorway in travertine; the courtyard façade is in grey plaster. - The Domus Carola, which has a rectangular plan, rises five storeys above ground, in addition to the ground floor and a sixth floor set back from the street line. According to Ponti, to be considered modern, houses must have large windows, typical fittings and new interior arrangements. The aspects the designer intended to achieve were practicality and refinement, a studied and controlled arrangement of the rooms in the apartments, and coloured façades. The architects' work, in fact, is not limited to the design of the façade, but concerns the study of the house as a whole: the division of the dwellings, the installations, the services and the materials.

The Littoria Tower appeared in the park in 1933 for the 5th Triennale. It takes the form of a metal prism a full 108,60 metres high, built entirely of tubular steel (something rather unusual, since sections were generally used) and with the joints made almost entirely by electric welding. The prism, which has a hexagonal plan, tapers from the bottom upwards. At a height of 97 metres there is a platform supporting the restaurant cabin and, above it, the belvedere and the beacon lantern. Inside the prism is another, smaller hexagonal tower that serves as the lift shaft and supports the spiral staircase.

This is the last project drawn up by Ponti and Lancia, and the signs of their separation can already be seen. In the building, which is made up of two distinct blocks, the hand of Lancia seems evident in the “tower” (except for the stepped terraces of the top floors, which are typical of Ponti) and that of Ponti in the cube-shaped “villa”. The tower is in brick, while the cubic block is faced with white marble. Publication in architectural magazines had given an almost metaphysical image of the tower, likening the terraces to deserted pergolas. Ponti, on the contrary, had designed them with the idea that they would be lived in and furnished with awnings, sunshades, trees and flowers.

The building presents an L-shape block of different heights with openings on more sides. It has a mixed structure in reinforced concrete with a concrete roof and roof tiles from Marseilles. The façade has a travertine skirting with red, Terranova plaster-work walls. The building has a total of eight floors of which the floor below the ground was destined in part as a cellar and a five-roomed study.According to Ponti, this building represented the apex of important results in the field of construction and the techniques of housing: orientation of the building in relation to the perfect insulation of the rooms, the separation of the apartment into well-defined zones (services, day and night), the presence in each apartment of a balcony or terrace, architectonic elements with windows and vases for flowers, a double entrance (family and staff), luminous cellars, the presence on the top floors of an apartment-villa and finally a series of services (office and a walk-in wardrobe) included in the original construction.To obtain even better results, Ponti proposed a variety of apartments in the same building with the consequent elimination of a typical plan and the roof with its large terrace from which, thanks to its placemen,t that is further back from the building, apartments may be found on all the floors

The building has an L-shaped plan and rises six storeys above ground, the top one set back, in addition to a basement floor used as cellars. The roof is partly a terrace and partly in timber and Marseille tiles; the structure is in solid brick and the floors in reinforced concrete and special bricks. This house is a typical example of corner rooms connected to terraces. This type of house, free-standing, is similar to that of Casa Marmont, but here the problem of the loggia taking habitable space away from the apartment is solved with a corner balcony, which is linked to the innovations in the layout of the dwelling. In this building Ponti focuses on functional uses, on the provision of built-in fittings and on the ingenious arrangement of the circulation spaces.

The common features of these five houses are: load-bearing masonry for the perimeter walls, reinforced concrete for the internal pillars, floors in reinforced concrete and brick, roofing in corrugated Eternit and Marseille tiles, wooden window and door frames, linoleum floors in the living rooms and marble tiles in the service rooms. - The Domus Livia has an irregular plan and rises six storeys above ground, the top one set back. The façade is characterized by balconies corresponding to the drawing room and by long intermediate windows. - The Domus Serena has five storeys above ground plus a mansard attic housing the caretaker's apartment. The façade is characterized by loggias corresponding to the living rooms, while the service rooms look onto the courtyard. - The Domus Onoria has an L-shaped plan, with an off-centre entrance and six storeys above ground. The façade is tall and narrow and is characterized by superimposed balconies, with alternating doors and windows corresponding to the living rooms, while the service rooms look onto the courtyard. - The Domus Aurelia, like the Domus Onoria, has an L-shaped plan, an off-centre entrance, six storeys above ground, the service rooms facing the courtyard and the living rooms facing the street. The façade is characterized by a double row of superimposed balconies, slightly set back from the façade line, flanked by two rows of windows. - The Domus Flavia, with an L-shaped plan, has five storeys above ground, the ground floor and a sixth floor in the attic. In this building too the service rooms face the courtyard and the living rooms the street. On the façade, the terrace of the large living room has two French windows with a picture window between them. The base and the doorway are in concrete, the string courses in clinker and the façade in Terranova plaster. According to Irace, Ponti's building programme is based on the repetition of types, on the use of humble materials and on a volumetric simplification characterized by projections, by the shaping of the openings and by the colour of the plaster.

The building in question has an L-shaped plan and seven storeys above ground. The structure is in masonry and reinforced concrete, the frame in solid brick, the floors in reinforced concrete and brick, the roof in timber and Eternit, the roof covering in Marseille tiles, and the façades in stone and special plaster. Here too the apartments have two separate entrances: one for the family and one for service. Ponti's intention in this building was to allow all the apartments to enjoy a view of the garden, which is why he devised the interplay of the various blocks stepped back like a staircase. Ponti pays particular attention to the corner room with which every apartment is provided, opening onto a large balcony or a large terrace, with a French window and a picture window. Besides its pleasing effects of light, the latter has the advantage of not depriving the walls of space useful for arranging the furniture.

The villa consists of seven rooms arranged on two floors, plus the attic. The picture window of the large living room gives direct access to the garden, located at the side; the rear façade has the loggia-terrace of the bedroom, and the attic room looks onto a small terrace. In this project too Ponti highlights the architectural elements that characterize his work: the idea of mural painting on the façade, large windows lighting the main rooms, and the interplay of loggias and terraces.

The building rises five storeys above ground, plus a fifth set back from the street line and an attic, in which the lofts and a large terrace have been created. The main façade is characterized by balconies corresponding to the living rooms, except for those of the fifth floor, which are served by a large terrace. The main feature of the apartments in this house is a single large space comprising living room, study and dining room, suitably separated by special, carefully designed partitions and glazed screens. The external facing of the façade is in marble and that facing the courtyard is plastered, while for the interior floors black and white marble and walnut parquet were already specified at the design stage. The substantial difference between this house and those examined so far lies in its classification as a luxury house.

The house, which has a rectangular plan and stands in a garden district, rises three storeys above ground. The load-bearing structure is in brick and the floors are partly in terracotta and reinforced concrete and partly in iron and hollow tiles. The street façade is based on a proportional relationship of elements (rectangular and round windows, the vertical window of the stairwell, the two cantilevered canopies and the window surrounds flush with the wall) and on the unity of volume, emphasised by the walls that enclose the terrace on the top floor. The garden façade, on the other hand, onto which the main rooms face, is characterised by two large terraces, on the ground floor and on the top floor, and by large windows corresponding to the drawing room of the second-floor apartment. On each floor there is an apartment with the typical Ponti division into three zones: day, night and services. The second-floor apartment has an internal staircase leading to the terrace, beneath which a study has been created. The living room, two storeys high, overlooks a gallery above the study, from which the terrace is reached. The top floor, in fact, is partly occupied by a large terrace with a swimming pool, a sand pitch and a small vegetable garden. With this building Ponti placed great emphasis on the simplicity of the exterior and the unity of volume. According to the architect, the walled terrace, besides giving the impression of a room with the sky in place of a ceiling, recalls the walled gardens of antiquity.

The house has an L-shaped plan and six storeys above ground, the top one set back from the street line. The structure is in solid brick, the floors in reinforced concrete and hollow tiles, the façades faced with yellow-ochre Terranova render, and the roof is made of terraces. Here too we find the elements dear to Gio Ponti: the two separate entrances (main and service), the provision for each flat of a large balcony and a small service terrace for the kitchen, the division of the rooms into day, night and service areas, and the presence of built-in cupboards and furnished pantries. The third and fourth floors house a single eleven-room flat in which the living room has a large picture window overlooking the corner terrace, a sliding door separating it from the dining room, and a staircase leading directly to the roof garden.

The building has an H-shaped plan; the block corresponding to the central bar separates two courtyards, one internal and one facing Via Moscova. On the courtyard facing the street are the main entrance and the entrances for employees. The main hall, reserved for the public and executives, is enclosed by a large four-leaf glazed wall with aluminium frames, and has a marble floor and aluminium wall cladding. On either side of this hall there are two smaller ones, floored and clad in marble, reserved for officials and employees. The outer façades are faced with light green Apuan cipollino marble. Palazzo Montecatini is recognised as the first office building of a “distinctly modern character” to be built in Milan, both in its actual structure and in its technical installations (foundations, insulation from external vibrations, air-conditioning system and pneumatic post system). For Ponti it is essential to determine the module, represented by the characteristic element that is to measure the building: the work space, coordinated, organised, collective and constantly changing, for which flexibility of layout is provided. Another fundamental element of the building is the use of materials: aluminium, together with marble and glass, forms the “aesthetic physiognomy” of the building.

The building has four storeys above ground, plus a ground floor intended for shops and a set-back top floor. The structure is in solid brick, the floors in special bricks and reinforced concrete, and the roof is a terrace. The façade is clad in polished Musso marble. The distinctive feature of this office building is that the floors intended for offices show no indication of partition walls. Ponti explains this feature by stating that he wanted to leave the greatest flexibility of subdivision. The window frames on the façade are of metal, and the corner treatment with porticoes has a motif of large windows. In designing this building Ponti attended to every last detail, from the lamps of the portico to the entrance hall with its doors of Securit glass, to the lifts and even the office furniture.

The designers of this building are listed as Ponti, Fornaroli and Soncini. The building rises six storeys above ground, the top two set back, with brick perimeter walls, floors in reinforced concrete and hollow tiles, and a stone facing on the street façade. In March 1940 the PFS studio presented a variant of the façade with a terrace roof in place of the previous pitched roof, and a decorative scheme for the end wall facing the property of the Swiss School. In November of the same year Ponti wrote to the Podestà that the medium-standard house, with the improvements made, had attained the characteristics of a luxury house.

This project for the reconstruction of Piazza San Babila between Via Monforte and Via Borgogna was drawn up by Ponti, Fornaroli and Soncini with the collaboration of Casalis and De Min. The architects explain that, given the heterogeneous shape of the square, they wanted to give the building a calm and unified appearance, and adopted a vertical pairing of openings framing larger openings, as focal elements, which correspond to the double-height halls. As regards colour, keeping to the existing harmonies of the square, they adopted warm yellow stone for the base, which runs from the ground floor to the second floor, red for the marble elements of the plinth and yellow mosaic for facing the surfaces from the third floor to the top of the building, while the windows and the large openings were framed in white marble. The architecture is tied to the definition of the plan, based on the subdivision of the properties. The result is a unified architecture, characterised horizontally by an evident superimposition of floors with different uses: ground floor and mezzanine for shops, offices from the first to the third floor, the prestige offices on the fourth, which marks the crowning of the base, and from the fifth upwards the residential floors, the sixth and seventh floors housing two-storey apartments, to which correspond the large windows of the seven-metre-high living rooms.

The building was designed by Ponti together with Fornaroli and Soncini, in collaboration with the engineer Bertolaia. The intention, above all on Ponti’s part, was to keep the three blocks that make up the building (offices, broadcasting and theatre) separate but clearly recognisable. Between the office block and the broadcasting block opens a luminous gap formed by the transparent vertical circulation block. Over time the building has undergone various alterations, but it has kept some architectural details, such as the portico and the doorways onto the street, which still uphold the original intention regarding proportions.

Ponti maintained that a clinic should present, both inside and outside, the appearance not of a hospital but of a home. Only in this way can patients feel treated as human beings rather than as sick people, and be grateful to the architect. As soon as the opportunity arose, with the design of the Clinica Columbus, Ponti put these ideas into practice. The characteristics of this building are: rooms facing south, circulation and floor supervision at the centre of the plan, and the operating department to the north. The small devices used by the architect so that the building should not look like a clinic in the strict sense consist of: rooms painted in different colours, furniture of wood rather than metal, every maternity room provided with a small balcony and a pergola, and the medical and surgical wing with terraces looking directly onto the garden, so as to give convalescents a pleasant view.

Within this neighbourhood, whose main characteristic is a grouping of buildings that differ from one another, set amid greenery and brightly coloured, we find two houses by Ponti: a red and white one, which has duplex apartments on the top floor, and a white and yellow one, designed together with Gigi Gho. In this project Ponti was determined to stand against the new planimetric compositions that he himself judged to be a “fake village”, or even a “little architectural theatre”. For Ponti, in fact, designing a new neighbourhood had to be based on a definite geometric order.

This complex stands in a central area and comprises an office building, a residential building and a garden. The initial project presented a different compositional solution from the one built. The solution adopted is introverted, that is, the buildings stand on the street line with the garden inside. Ponti, on the other hand, had intended to adopt an extroverted solution, with the main building set back from the street line and, in front of it, a raised square with a car park underneath. As for the facing of the façade, for which red granite was used, the initial project also provided for a different material: gleaming ceramic. The project was drawn up by the Studio Ponti Fornaroli Rosselli with the collaboration of the Studio Portaluppi.

The second Palazzo Montecatini stands beside the first, subject to the same dimensional constraints imposed by the building regulations. The wings of this building adopt the same solutions as the first building, while for the front Ponti decided on a different solution. To compensate for the fact that this front rises too little above the bulk of the wings of the neighbouring building, the architect opted for a fine-meshed motif over the whole elevation, so as to give it an apparently greater size. The main feature of this motif is the extraordinary change in the appearance of the elevation according to the viewpoint: seen from the front it looks entirely of glass, while from the side it looks entirely of aluminium. Despite these devices on the main elevation, the most interesting aspect of this building remains the rear front, with its spectacular play of diamond-shaped surfaces.

The Faculty of Architecture was designed by Ponti in collaboration with Giordano Forti. Unfortunately the building did not correspond to Ponti's original idea, for in the first draft of the project he intended to make the premises a “teaching building”, a kind of laboratory. Ponti believed that the architecture of the building should represent the first “environmental lesson”.

Designed by the Studio Ponti Fornaroli Rosselli with the collaboration of the Studio Valtolina – Dell’Orto, the Pirelli Tower, often called a “small skyscraper”, is 127.10 metres high, 18.50 metres deep at the centre and 70.40 metres wide; it does not rest on a base and rises detached from the surrounding buildings, which are much lower. The structural invention required great skill on the part of Nervi and Danusso, who worked on this project to “determine” the structure. The problem of stability in a reinforced concrete building with such a small width/height ratio was solved by Nervi through a series of devices: a “gravity” system concentrated in the two rigid triangles at the ends, in the four rigid pillars placed at the centre of the structure and, finally, in the central lift tower. In designing this tower Ponti had set himself four main objectives: structural invention, essentiality, expressiveness and illusiveness. The last two objectives were not fully achieved. Indeed, as Ponti himself explains, as regards expressiveness the Pirelli is certainly “vertical” on its sides, but on the façade, despite the measures taken, the horizontal ruling prevails. As regards illusiveness, Ponti would have liked to obtain the effect of a vertical split at the two ends of the tower, conceived as a continuous luminous slit; instead it appears segmented by the slabs of the small balconies, which were extended for structural reasons.

In designing this house Ponti plays with some of his favourite elements: diamond-shaped volumes, the contrast between solid, projecting volumes and the voids of the windows, and the materials he loved, silver aluminium and grey diamond-pattern ceramic tiles. Another primary feature of this building is the staircase, which over five floors appears as a kaleidoscopic play of colours between the walls and the steps themselves.

Ponti lived in this house with his family from 1957 onwards, and it contains all his innovations concerning plan, walls, furniture and objects. The plan presents a single space, with sliding walls, the furnished window, self-lighting furniture, organised panels, floors and ceilings with diagonal stripes, a single colour for the whole house, chairs and beds all alike, and table paintings. Typical of Ponti in the 1950s are the paintings on Perspex, to be admired against the light, perhaps as window panes. An important feature of the house is the façade, which has a different arrangement of openings on each floor.

The façade of this building has a ceramic cladding. The tiles used by Ponti are partly smooth and partly diamond-shaped. A continuous copper canopy runs between the shop windows on the ground floor and the ceramic surface. Ponti greatly appreciated ceramic façades and specified their qualities: the rain washes them, so dirt hardly accumulates on them, and the diamond shape of the tiles makes them reflect the sun, creating remarkable light effects that are heightened by the glazing set flush with the flat surfaces, in which the sky is reflected.

The church stands inside an old garden and faces the churchyard with its narrow front. The building is flanked by two others, also religious buildings by Gio Ponti, and the three façades share a single, spectacular motif that seems to merge with the sky. Noteworthy is the wide access ramp, with an outward-leaning balustrade that gives the impression of rising from the ground to merge into the body of the building. As for the interior, the notable elements are the free-standing altar, which allows the faithful to gather all around it, and the chapels with doors that can be closed.

In designing this church, Ponti highlights many of his principles. The diamond-shaped plan, with the transparent entrances placed in the centre, reflects the principle of “formal invention”. The ceramic cladding, also diamond-shaped, gives the impression that the building is lighter, slimmer and larger than it actually is. This effect is achieved through plays of light and perspective and is the result of Ponti's principle of “illusiveness”. As for the “night-time” view, Ponti carefully studied the design of the openings: by giving the north façade large diamond-shaped openings and the south façade narrow slits, he ensures that, with their play of light, they make any other kind of decoration unnecessary. The church is connected to the hospital proper by a covered walkway.

The building, made up of two unequal blocks, presents one of Ponti’s typical solutions for the façades of city buildings: the front is articulated in a sequence of modular vertical sectors, each with a different arrangement of openings. Green tiles, smooth and diamond-shaped, laid at random so as to obtain extraordinary effects of light reflection, form the facing of the façade. These effects are intensified by the windows which, being set flush with the façade, reflect the sky.

In this building, which has a large garden attached, Ponti highlights the principle of “verticality”. This effect is achieved through the different angles given to the façades, a device used to create an apparently greater height (the principle of “illusiveness”). Indeed, as often happens in Ponti's projects, the building is based on a carefully studied play of surfaces rather than of volumes, accentuated by the light effects created by the reflections of the ceramic that covers those very surfaces.

Triassic, 238 million years ago. Of note in the diorama is the presence of a Tanystropheus and an Askeptosaurus.

Latimeria chalumnae

Eryops megacephalus, Permian, United States

Limnoscelis palustris, Permian, United States

Camptosaurus dispar, Upper Jurassic, USA Allosaurus fragilis, Upper Jurassic, USA

This type of forest, far brighter than virgin forest, is recognisable by the presence of the African umbrella tree (Musanga cecropioides) with its characteristic palmate, incised leaves arranged like the spokes of a wheel. The secondary forest has a great number of flower-visiting and sun-loving species: Hymenoptera of the Chrysididae family, Lepidoptera of the Papilionidae and Nymphalidae families, Coleoptera of the Cerambycidae, Chrysomelidae and Scarabaeidae families, etc. There are numerous insects with camouflaging shapes and colours that thus hide in the environment in which they live: among these is Petrognatha gigas, which imitates the surface of tree bark. The forest floor is frequented by many solitary insects, including the large dynastine beetle Eunema Pan, and by hosts of aggressive ants, including Paltothyreus tarsatus, called the corpse ant because of the nauseating smell it gives off, and various species of the subfamily Dorylinae, with colonies sometimes made up of over two million individuals (army ants).

Male sperm whale 12 metres long, beached at Forte dei Marmi (Lucca) on 17 June 1988. Its skeleton is mounted in an underwater position.

The Snow Goat (Oreamnos americanus), of the Artiodactyla Bovidae, is a typical animal of the North American mountains, related to the chamois. With its short legs and particularly powerful shoulder muscles, which form its characteristic hump, the snow goat is an excellent climber and, thanks to an elastic pad under its hooves, can climb very steep walls, even with slopes of 80 degrees, that is to say almost vertical.

Aberdare National Park, Kenya

Every year, between July and August the McNeil River, on the Alaska Peninsula, fills with Dog salmon swimming upstream from the sea towards their spawning grounds. The abundance of fish attracts more than 80 Grizzlies in a single day along the rapids.

The American Elk (Alces) is represented here. This is a typically solitary animal that belongs to the family of the Artiodactyla Cervidae. During the reproductive season (from the end of September to the end of October) the males of this species use their enormous antlers, which are shed and re-grow each year, in fights to conquer the female. The La Mauricie National Park extends over an area of 544 square kilometres in Québec.

The diorama reproduces a small wood in the Kredovaya Pad’ Nature Reserve (a small reserve created in 1916, situated in the temperate forest of south-eastern Siberia). The reserve is home to the Siberian Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), of the Carnivora Felidae, the largest living cat, which has an average length of 2.80 metres and weighs about 300 kilograms. This enormous feline hunts medium-sized and small prey by ambush, usually catching them after a brief chase. The smaller prey are killed with a bite to the neck, while the larger ones die of suffocation. The survival of the Siberian tiger has been severely tested by poaching: today between 150 and 300 individuals survive in Siberia, Korea and north-eastern China.

The Yak (Bos grunniensis) is a ruminant mammal of the order Artiodactyla and the family Bovidae which, instead of mooing, emits a kind of grunt. The diorama reproduces the north-western Tibetan plateau, at an altitude of about 5000 metres, where the male yak lives in herds with numerous females and a few males. Yaks generally have black fur with a slight shading of grey on the muzzle, but about a thousand individuals in the Mount Aru region (such as the one photographed here) have a golden-brown coat. Yaks were domesticated by the Tibetans about three thousand years ago for transport, but also for their meat, milk and hides.

The diorama is set in a high-altitude grassland on the plateau of northern Ethiopia. Near a ravine, two small groups of Gelada (Theropitecus gelada) are confronting each other while two Klipspringers watch the scene from a rock. To frighten their opponents, the male geladas raise their upper lip until it covers their nose.

We are in a corner of the surviving original European forest. It is September, the height of the mating season for the European Bison. In an old forest of lime and white hornbeam trees, a male is sniffing the air in search of females ready for mating.

The diorama reproduces a corner of the North American coniferous forest, precisely the transition zone between the temperate grassland and the Douglas fir forest; here a young American Black Bear (Ursus americanus), its muzzle pierced by porcupine quills, clashes with a large adult bear while its mother watches the scene. The American black bear is a carnivore of the Ursidae family which, despite its name, may have a coat of various colours: its fur may in fact be black, chocolate brown or cinnamon brown, and rarely even white or blue. Cubs with coats of different colours may be born in the same litter; the colouring does not change throughout the animal’s life.

The diorama reproduces a glimpse of the Canadian Arctic tundra in the Northwest Territories. The Musk Ox (Ovibos moschatus) is a ruminant artiodactyl that lives in the wild in Greenland and North America. It is called musk ox because its meat takes on the smell of the moss that is its main source of food. The musk ox can reach 2 metres in length and 1 metre in height; it has lateral horns pointing downwards, a short tail and thick, woolly fur. Endowed with keen sight and hearing, the musk ox, although slow in its movements, can run. It usually lives in herds of about 15 individuals, but the adult males live alone. The Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) and the reindeer of Europe and northern Asia are subspecies of a single species, the most northerly of the Cervidae family. Caribou live in homogeneous herds made up of females with their young and one-year-old males; the herds are very large, numbering even many thousands of animals.

The White Bear or Polar Bear shares with the Kodiak bear of Alaska the record of being the largest living land carnivore. Its size varies consistently with sex. The males are 2–2.50 metres long, 1.20–1.60 metres high at the withers and weigh 300–800 kg. The females are 1.60–2 metres long, 1 metre high and weigh 300 kg. It lives in the desolate glacial expanses of the Arctic, most often among the ice. It is an excellent swimmer. Its usual prey are seals, above all the ringed seal, adults and young, which it catches in spring. The Ringed Seal (Phoca hispida) is one of the most typical Arctic seals. The adults are characterised by a dark grey back on which greyish-white rings stand out; the belly is silvery and without dark markings. It is about 1.30 metres long, the males being slightly larger than the females.

The diorama presents a glimpse of an Arctic sea cliff in the Lofoten Islands (Norway), where numerous species of sea birds nest in a large gathering, including Alcids, Larids and Gannets. In these conditions the various species compete with one another to occupy nesting space.

The Sea Elephant (Mirounga leonina) is the largest living carnivore in that it can reach 5–6 metres in length. The weight of adult males may reach 3700 kilograms, whereas the females weigh at most 900 kilograms. At birth the young weigh about 45 kilograms, but after about three weeks they already weigh about 130 kilograms. The sea elephant, an animal active at night, can stay under water for as long as half an hour; its head has a different shape according to sex and age: the males have the typical trunk. The average lifespan of the sea elephant is about 20 years; mating takes place from the tenth year of age. The Royal Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonica) is on average about 90 centimetres tall and its weight ranges between 15 and 20 kilograms. It lives in enormous communities made up of tens and hundreds of thousands of individuals. The royal penguin does not build a nest but incubates its egg, keeping it warm between its feet.

The African Elephant of the Savannah in Northern Tanzania

The diorama shows a particular moment in the life of the Sonora desert: the moment when, after abundant rain, flowers appear on a large Saguaro Cactus (Carnegiea gigantea), the typical plant of the area, from whose trunk a Red Lynx (Lynx rufus) is pouncing on a Californian Hare (Lepus californicus). The red lynx has a very wide distribution on the North American continent, being found from the Canadian forests to the Mexican desert; its diet is very varied: it feeds on small rodents and hares, but also on birds or reptiles. A solitary animal, the red lynx usually hunts at night or at first light.

In the Lion family, animals that are usually gregarious and territorial, it is the females that provide the food, often acting in groups. The prey of the lionesses ranges from large mammals to small rodents, from reptiles to birds: whatever populates the grassy African savannah. In the reconstruction, the environment of the Tanzanian savannah is represented at the beginning of the dry season, which in the Serengheti Park usually lasts from July to October. The presence of a large expanse of grass, even if dried out, supports numerous hoofed animals and their predators. Two lionesses have just made a kill and a lion (Panthera leo) approaches to feed while some vultures arrive. In order to hunt large mammals such as buffalo, a lioness first leaps onto the animal’s back and then, once she has brought it to the ground, goes for its neck or muzzle and suffocates it; in this way she prevents the prey from defending itself by kicking her or striking her with its horns.

The diorama reproduces a muddy pool in the South African savannah where, in the month of May, at the beginning of the dry season, some antelope and other animals typical of the area have gathered to drink; the area is characterised by a few bushes and by mopane trees. The Eland (Taurotragus oryx) belongs to the family of the Artiodactyla Bovidae and is the largest living antelope; the male of this species may reach 900 kilograms in weight but, despite its bulk, it sometimes makes remarkable vertical leaps, probably in order to show off in front of its companions. Also present in the diorama are a Greater Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), a Roan Antelope (Hippotragus equinus) and, in the background, the Impala (Aepyceros melampus), whose adult males are territorial during the mating season: an adult male controls a harem made up of several dozen females and drives away the young males when they approach.

The diorama, set at an altitude of about 2000 metres, shows the high-altitude savannah, which provides good pasture for herbivores, although its vegetation is poorer than that of the lowland pastures. Two specimens of Blesbok (Damaliscus dorcas Phillipsi) can be seen, together with a White-tailed Gnu (Connochaetes gnou), belonging to the Artiodactyla Bovidae, a species typical of the mountains and the equivalent of the common gnu found in the lowland savannahs. Reduced in the past by hunting to a few hundred individuals, the white-tailed gnu still remains rather rare today.

“Pampa” in the ancient Inca language means “plain”, and today the word is used to indicate the typical South American grassland. The very tall grasses almost completely hide even the large Nandù (Rhea americana), running birds typical of this environment. In the diorama are a male, a female and three chicks. Like the ostriches of the African savannahs and the Australian emus, nandùs can run at a speed of about sixty kilometres an hour. Nandùs, which feed mainly on roots, leaves and insects, are gregarious birds that live in mixed groups of males, females and young, groups formed of a minimum of four to a maximum of thirty individuals. During the breeding season the males defend their territory, where they mate with numerous females. Sitting on the eggs is the exclusive task of the male. A few days after hatching the chicks follow the male, with whom they keep in contact by means of continual whistles.

The Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) spends most of the day in the water, preferring to come out at sunset and during the night. Its large cylindrical body allows it to float even in muddy water, while the position of its ears, eyes and nostrils allows it to breathe and keep watch on its surroundings with only a small part of its head above the water. Under water the hippopotamus moves with agility; it can walk on the bottom of a pool and remain totally submerged for several minutes. Although it has a massive body (which in males may weigh about 2,500 kilograms and in females 1,400), it is nevertheless able to run on dry land too with remarkable agility, reaching a speed of about 30 kilometres an hour. The hippopotamus feeds on grass and shoots. The Sitatunga (Tragelafus spechei), of the Artiodactyla Bovidae, is the antelope best adapted to life in reed beds and marshes, because its hooves have divergent tips that prevent the animal from sinking into the muddy ground, while its particularly long and thick coat protects it from the damp.

Here we are in the thorny African savannah, characterised by shrubs and trees adapted to arid ground. The scene represents a small area of the Samburu National Reserve in Kenya, where a pair of ostriches, made up of the male and the dominant female, take turns looking after the nest in which several females have laid their eggs, while a small dik-dik passes through the vegetation. The female Ostrich (Struthio camelus) emits calls that stimulate the chicks to break their shells, so that the eggs hatch simultaneously. The total number of eggs that can be incubated is 25; the eggs laid by the dominant female are placed in the centre of the nest. Savannahs develop in the tropical regions, where the climate is characterised by periods of drought alternating with periods of rain.

We are in the open area of the Indian wooded savannah, an environment largely destroyed by man to obtain timber and land to cultivate, and more precisely in the area bordering on a more arid environment. The diorama shows two typical Indian Antelopes together with some Entellus monkeys (Presbytis entellus), which are extremely skilful at moving through the trees, among the branches. The larger antelope is a Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) and, as its scientific name suggests, in some of its features it recalls the bull (bos), the deer (elaphus), the goat (tragos) and the camel (camelus). The Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) that can be seen here is a subadult; these antelopes are extremely agile, making leaps up to 6 metres long and as much as 3 metres high. The adult male is darker; the females are lighter and without horns.

In this diorama are some of the species that are particularly adapted to life in the hard and inhospitable environment of the desert. The animal in the foreground is the Southern Oryx (Oryx gazela), behind which is the Jumping Antelope (Antidorcas marsupialis). When alarmed, the latter leaps and at the same time raises a strip of white hair on its back, a strip that remains hidden in a fold of its skin when it is at rest.

The diorama shows a running Emu flushing from the ground some parrots typical of the red earth of Australia, which had landed there to feed. We are in the environment known as “mulga”, an arid savannah where the acacia (Acacia aneura) is widespread and where many other species nevertheless manage to survive, for example (in the less arid areas) the eucalyptus. The emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) is an excellent runner, like the ostrich and the nandù. Males and females look alike, but in the mating season the females have their head and neck covered with thick black plumage. The chicks are striped, which makes it easier for them to camouflage themselves in the vegetation.

These engravings, which are difficult to date precisely but perhaps go back to 4000–3000 B.C., are found on the rocks of a rocky massif that interrupts the immense expanse of the Sahara dunes, and show how in a remote past the environment had the climatic characteristics and fauna typical of the savannah. In the diorama, on the rocks, are specimens of the Barbary Sheep (Ammotragus lervia), a species threatened with extinction because it falls victim to ruthless hunting. The Barbary sheep has broad, flattened hooves, ideal for moving easily on sand. Behind the rock on which the graffiti are carved two Antelopes (Addax nasomaculatus) can be glimpsed.

Here a glimpse of the vast North American prairie has been reconstructed: the section of the ground reveals one of the many tunnels in the network of burrows of some Prairie Dogs (Cynomis ludovicianus). The prairie dog, a rodent of the Sciuridae, owes its name to the bark-like call it emits in case of danger. When out in the open, prairie dogs, which live in colonies made up of hundreds of individuals, spend most of their time looking for food: they feed on grass, flowers, seeds, roots and even insects. The Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana), a hoofed animal of the Artiodactyla Bovidae, is the fastest mammal on the American continent: indeed, it can reach 80 kilometres an hour. When a pronghorn senses danger it warns its fellows by raising the white hairs on its rump, which thus form a “mirror” visible from a great distance. In winter the pronghorn forms large herds, while in summer the males are territorial and the groups are made up of only a few individuals.

The scene shows a wild camel in the Great Gobi Desert National Park. Only here do populations of wild camels still live, as well as the wild ass and the extremely rare Gobi brown bear. The Camel (Camelus bactrianus) is a ruminant characterised by two humps of fat on its back, which constitute a food reserve. The wild form of the camel, such as the one seen in the diorama, has shorter brown fur and a smaller hump and feet than the domestic form. To survive in the extreme conditions of desert areas, the camel has developed particular adaptations: it has acquired the ability to regulate its consumption of water (which it cannot store in great quantities in its stomach, as was believed in the past), limiting perspiration and using, when necessary, all the water contained in its body without ever altering the composition of its blood. To protect itself during sandstorms the camel has special muscles that allow it to open and close its nostrils.

The diorama is set in Abruzzo, in the month of June, on the massif of the Camosciara, a territory rich in woods and waters and therefore an ideal habitat for bears, typical forest animals that find their food in the undergrowth. Fond of honey too, the bear is also a skilful hunter and brings down even medium-sized animals, sometimes even roe deer or chamois. The Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) is the largest European carnivore; it has a robust build and extraordinary strength; its thick, long-haired coat varies in colour from light brown to dark chestnut brown. The bear is a plantigrade animal that swims well but rarely climbs; its senses are keen, except for sight; it is by nature a wanderer, capable of covering considerable distances, but more often it is sedentary. Usually silent, the bear, if disturbed, emits a kind of grunt, which may be prolonged if the animal is particularly irritated. During the winter months bears go without food or water for a long period, but this is not true hibernation: indeed, it is during this period that the cubs are born and suckled.

The diorama is set in the Val di Trafoi, in Alto Adige. The Red Deer, also known as the Noble Deer or European Deer (Cervus elaphus), is distinguished from the other inhabitants of our mountains by its size, by its large, branched horns, known as “antlers”, and by its rough coat, tawny brown tending to reddish in summer, which turns a more or less dark greyish colour in winter. The young have a white-spotted coat until the moult of their first autumn. The highly developed and imposing antlers are borne only by the males and are made of a compact bony substance. Up to a certain age the antlers grow every year; then, once fully developed, when maturity has been reached, they grow no more. The deer is a forest animal, active from dusk to dawn, which moves with agility despite its considerable size. It loves mountain forests and the vicinity of water; during the daylight hours the deer stays hidden in the depths of the forest. The females with their young form herds led by an adult female, while the adult males keep apart. The average lifespan of a deer is about twenty years.

The Steinbock, a ruminant of the Bovidae family, is a wild goat typical of the high mountains. Heavy and robust in form, the steinbock is unmistakable for its scimitar-shaped horns, which are very well developed in the males and much shorter in the females. The steinbock’s body is stocky, its limbs sturdy and its coat thick, especially in winter; the females are lighter in colour and less contrasting. It is impossible to confuse the steinbock with the chamois, which is slenderer and has hook-shaped horns. The steinbock normally lives above the tree line, between 2000 and 3500 metres, and spends the winter in the high mountains; it comes down towards the valley floor in spring, when the snow leaves the meadows, uncovering the tender grass that brings relief to the exhausted animals. An extremely skilful climber, with broad hooves that give it a stable footing, the steinbock finds its ideal habitat on rock faces. The females and young males live in herds (sometimes of a hundred head) separate from those of the adult males, while the old males often live alone.

The diorama shows the western slopes of Poggio Lecci, in the Maremma natural park. A sow with her young is captured in a defensive pose, as she has met an adult male (a boar) looking for food. The Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) is a non-ruminant hoofed animal of the Suidae family, with a powerful wedge-shaped body, a characteristic that allows it to push its way into the thickest scrub. It has a bristly coat with a thick, woolly undercoat; it is omnivorous, but 90% of its food consists of plants; it has continuously growing canine teeth which in the males form robust tusks. The wild boar adapts to living in very varied environments, but its ideal habitat is a wood with rich undergrowth and thick scrub; it is an animal that loves water and mud. Wild boars live in groups, which may be large; they breed between October and late January and, after a gestation of about four months, give birth in summer to five or six young. The maximum lifespan of a wild boar is about twenty years.

In the Adamello Brenta natural park, an adult male, captured in a threatening pose, that is, with the hair on its back raised, asserts its dominance, in the mating season, over a young male in a submissive posture; a female is visible in the background. The Chamois (Rupicapra), of the Bovidae family, is the most widespread ruminant in the Alps; it differs from the steinbock in its slenderer build and in its characteristic ebony-coloured, hook-shaped horns, which are present in both sexes. In summer the chamois lives at very high altitudes, while in winter it comes down to the level of the woods; endowed with an excellent sense of smell, it feeds on about three hundred different varieties of plants, according to the season. It is active by day and generally grazes in the early hours of the morning and at sunset. The females with their young live in herds, whereas the adult males are solitary. The chamois has an average lifespan of about fifteen years and a maximum lifespan of twenty-two.

In a stretch of ancient wooded Karst heathland in the municipality of Duino, a Roe Deer (Capreolus) can be seen, an animal that lives well on the plains, in the hills and in the mountains. Active above all at dusk, it feeds on buds, leaves, herbaceous plants, grasses and wild fruit. The roe deer has excellent senses of smell and hearing, while its sight is less developed. When it has to give the alarm call, the roe deer barks or, in the case of females and young, whistles. The diorama presents a wood of hop hornbeam and manna ash in autumn: an adult male roe deer, accompanied by two females, has turned with a suspicious air. In summer roe deer tend to live alone and mark their area with the secretion of their facial glands, rubbing their heads on the trunks and branches of shrubs. Only the males have short antlers, with three tines, of unmistakable shape. The summer coat of the roe deer is reddish-fawn, while the winter coat is greyish-brown with a conspicuous white patch around the anal region. The average lifespan of roe deer is 12–14 years.

A ruminant of the Bovidae family and ancestor of the domestic sheep, the Moufflon (Ovis musimon), originally from Sardinia and Corsica, has a coat of short, rough hair which in the adult male is characterised by the so-called “saddle”, an area of the back where the coat is lighter in colour. A diurnal animal with excellent sight, the moufflon adapts to living in woods and meadows as well as in rocky areas, and feeds on leaves or meadow grasses. It lives in large herds made up of the females and their young, joined by the adult males in autumn and winter, the breeding season. To warn the members of the herd of danger, the moufflon bleats or whistles. The diorama shows a Sardinian environment in the month of October, precisely Mount Tonneri, situated in the state-owned forest of Montarbu.

The Fallow Deer is a member of the Cervidae originally from the eastern Mediterranean, with an unmistakable appearance due to its white-spotted coat and its palmate, shovel-shaped antlers. The antlers, which are borne only by the males, are renewed every year: they fall in the month of April and have grown again by August or September. Endowed with excellent sight, the fallow deer, which is more diurnal in its habits than the other Italian deer, is a decidedly gregarious animal that lives in herds of varied composition and feeds on buds, leaves and fruit. In the diorama, under an umbrella pine (Pinus picea), in the sparse undergrowth of mastic trees (Pistacia lentiscus), besides the pair of fallow deer a non-venomous reptile can also be seen: the Four-lined Snake (Elaphe quatorlineata). The Maremma natural park is in the province of Grosseto.

The Goat (Aegagrus hircus) is similar to the steinbock but is slenderer in build and has lighter horns; it prefers an arid, rocky environment with a vegetation of shrubs and bushes. The diorama is set on the island of Montecristo (in the Tuscan archipelago). The only Italian population of wild goats lives on Montecristo. It is June, late in the afternoon, and inside a “tafone”, that is, a cavity carved out of the granite rock by the wind, a male and a young female wild goat are about to go and graze in the Mediterranean scrub, among bushes of rosemary and rock rose. In the diorama the Yellow-legged Gull, Audouin’s Gull and the Montecristo Viper can also be seen, the latter a local form most similar to the viper found in southern Italy.

The diorama is set in a clearing in the valley of the river Orfento, on the slopes of the Maiella. A pack of wolves, the hunt over, is returning to its dens: in the foreground is a young male wolf of about a year and a half in a submissive attitude towards a female of higher rank, who is in a dominant position, as shown by the attitude of her muzzle and her raised tail; further back is the male leader of the pack, emitting a howl. The Wolf (Canis lupus) is the largest of the Canidae and the ancestor of the domestic dog; it is a carnivore that usually lives in packs made up of a couple and its offspring. The cubs open their eyes after two weeks. During this phase the other members of the pack procure food for both the mother and her young. Its diet is based on wild and, occasionally, domestic prey, but also on refuse. The wolf is today threatened with extinction; the average lifespan of a wolf in the wild does not exceed ten years.

The Wild Cat (Felis silvestris) is the largest of the domestic cats: it can reach a length of one metre 20 centimetres. It has a robust yet slender and extremely agile body, a short, rounded head, strong, long legs and yellow eyes. Its fur is thick, fawn-grey in colour and lighter on the belly. The wild cat is nocturnal and tree-dwelling in its habits, jumping nimbly from branch to branch in search of birds and small mammals.

The Lynx (Lynx) is a carnivorous feline with a rounded head and pointed ears bearing characteristic tufts of hair at the tip. It has an agile and robust body ending in a rather short tail (about 15 centimetres long in an individual about one metre 10 centimetres long); the fur of lynxes is very soft. Once very widespread in temperate and cold regions, the lynx is today rather rare. The diorama is set in the Perda ’e Liana natural monument, a coastal geosite located in an area protected for its landscape and hydrogeological value.

An evocative picture of life in the high mountains, with a lively group of Marmots caught in various kinds of behaviour at the entrance to a burrow. High above, some Choughs are circling, typical alpine birds.

At nightfall, in the age-old beech forest of this famous Nature Reserve of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, we are surprised by a magnificent Eagle Owl which, with wings outspread, is landing as it seizes a hedgehog.

Set in the heart of the large Tarvisio forest, with an adult male wood-grouse, caught in its typical display.

A winter setting against the backdrop of M. Gelas in the Maritime Alps, with two highly typical alpine species, which, with their white livery, show their extraordinary adaptation to the mantle of snow.

Against the background of one of the peaks of Etna, the diorama presents a very lively group of Wild Rabbits near one of their burrows, dug in ground formed by an old lava flow. Note the flowering Etna broom.

In the Lame del Sesia Park we see, from the top of a tree, a typical scene of Ardeidi nesting in a “Garzaia”.

A winter setting on the shores of the coastal lakes of this well-known park in Lazio, with various migrating Waders. These lakes form a strategic area for the conservation in Europe of some of these bird species.

A colony of Laridae is shown nesting on the beach of a brackish pond in the Valli di Comacchio. The scene is set in late spring, and present are the Sandwich Tern, the Common Tern, the Little Tern, the Mediterranean Gull, the Shelduck and the Little Ringed Plover.

A scene set no later than 1950 in the Montes state-owned forest in the province of Nuoro, beneath the majestic tower of Novu San Giovanni, in Sardinia. We see a scene of interaction between a Monk Vulture, Griffon Vulture and Bearded Vulture, intent on consuming the carcass of a Moufflon. Nearby, a Sardinian Fox and various birds. In recent decades the Bearded Vulture and the Monk Vulture have disappeared from Sardinia.

Near the banks of the Ticino, in a grove of Downy Oak, we observe a Brown Hare, caught in the act of fleeing. Note, among other things, a flock of Goldfinches and, on the trunk, the Wryneck. Below, camouflaged on the leaf litter, a Nightjar.

In an unmistakable glimpse of the reed bed some characteristic marsh birds can be seen, including, from right to left,, a Reed Warbler, caught in the act of feeding a young Cuckoo, some Bearded Reedlings and two Great Reed Warblers. Note in the water, among the Water Lily leaves, a Grass Snake and two Common Green Frogs.

On a rock in the Ligurian park of the Finalese at Capo Noli, we witness a predatory approach by a large Montpellier Snake on the Ocellated Lizard, the largest European Lacertid. The scene takes place in spring in a Mediterranean scrub environment.

In a transitional locality, between the broadleaf woodland (north side) and the Mediterranean scrub (south side) of the Portofino Promontory, a Beech Marten and a Hedgehog can be seen in a small wood of Hazel and Manna Ash. In the trees, the Edible Dormouse and the Hazel Dormouse.

“Looking back at the last things I painted, I was surprised, but not astonished, to realise that developing an increasingly personal expressive language has gradually brought me back to what I can do most naturally: using words and phrases, sometimes direct, sometimes ironic and allusive, within creative compositions of various kinds. I remember how, on the walls of Milan in the early '90s, I used to insert Latin aphorisms or proverbs in Milanese dialect into classic pure-writer pieces, arousing a certain curiosity both among other street artists and among the general public: I always tried to tone down my ‘urban writer’ lettering into one that even the widest public could easily understand. Today, as I was saying, I feel I have recovered at least part of that communicative process. The power of words now seems to be the only one capable of setting up a barrier, however weak, against the ever more rapid deterioration of the supply of cognitive stimuli, compressed into a visual circus sustained and doped by the marketing of creativity at every level. A creativity that is sometimes genuine but often rendered sterile by forced repetition for profit, which ends up emptying it of any remaining meaning. Words, on the other hand, continue to annoy, to create dissent, to generate independent public opinion”.

Davide Tinelli has devoted himself to urban art for several years, and during his career he has received various awards. He has exhibited on several occasions in Italy and Spain. He has also taken part in several group exhibitions, the most significant being Street Art Sweet Art at the PAC in Milan, the exhibition Nuova Figurazione Italiana in Bollate and the exhibition entitled Scala Mercalli at the Auditorium in Rome. He has also recently taken part in the International Meeting of Mediterranean Culture in Algiers.

El Gato Chimney was born in 1981 in Milan, where he lives and works. While studying editorial graphic design, he began his artistic career as a self-taught artist, developing an early interest in graffiti, which led him to work successfully in the field of street art, which he still cites among his major stylistic influences, together with steampunk culture and Surrealism. If you “immerse” yourself in the works of El Gato Chimney, it is hard to forget his world, in which fields covered with a sweet pink icing often give way to settings reminiscent of abandoned funfairs dripping with desolation and rust – a world apparently uninhabited by human beings, which is home to flying teapots and floating metal creatures. But beware, because in his works nothing is as it seems and nothing is left to chance: the artist's aim is to make the role of the observer an active one, confronting him with a painting that has multiple meanings. In the end, numbers and symbols scattered across the painting may perhaps offer the solution to the riddle. They certainly invite you to immerse yourself in every little detail of these dreamlike landscapes, full of brilliant colours and incredibly lively creatures that are just waiting to tell you their version of the story.

“Driven by a sensation rather than by a sensible idea”, Maurizio Ricucci, known as Ericsone, was born in Milan in August 1983. Huge lines and expressions beyond the grotesque are by now his trademark: elastic bodies wedged into blocks of letters and huge tongues crossed by onomatopoeias typical of Marvel comics; ultra-flat colours bury the universe of nuances of the colour ranges. “Take a cartoon setting and shut it inside a box with characters who look as if they have stepped out of a Quentin Tarantino pulp movie, then throw in a hit like ‘Ring My Bell’ by Anita Ward, shake it all up well and you will get the XXX ingredient to access the world of Ericsone (soundtrack included)”. In August 2009 he collaborated on an experimental music project under the pseudonym BoogieVandal; between artistic and musical productions he manages to fuse funk with illustration, finally reaching a good starting point for what will be his future stylistic evolution.

Flycat, registered at birth as Luca Massironi, was born in Milan in 1970. He encountered Hip Hop culture and Spray art in the early '80s, and in the same period he met in Milan the New York master “A-One” (a well-known exponent, with Basquiat, Cutrone and Rammelzee, of the New York avant-garde of the '80s, who died in 2001), from whom he learnt the foundations on which he would develop his painting style. Flycat is recognised as a leading figure on the international Hip Hop/Spray Art scene. In the early '90s he decided to give a name to the style of painting he was developing: Pzyco Futurizm, a reference also to an important tradition such as ‘Futurism’ and ‘visual poetry’, whose energy can still be felt in our city. Pzyco Futurizm is not only painting, colour and forms but also sound, rap poetry. “On my journey I have had the pleasure and the honour of meeting and learning from those whom I considered, and still consider, the greatest ‘Masters’ of this wonderful artistic/cultural Movement, at a time when there was still no Web and when a handshake still embodied a whole set of values. This art is my life, without which I would not exist, and that is why I am grateful to it every day”.

Alias Alessandro Gatti, born in Milan in 1973. “A network is a set of transport links, pipelines and cables that allows us to deliver the most varied things to the point where they are needed. I realise that planet earth needs a great many things in the most varied places, and that not only must all these objects arrive on site and on time, but that before they set off a request must leave the point of need and reach its destination in time. And I also realise that building a network has a cost, and that for this reason whoever builds it charges a toll, which should normally be limited to the cost of building and running the structure. And I realise as well that the general tendency is to entrust the management of networks to companies that guarantee the perfect functioning of the mechanism. But unfortunately I realise that things are almost never that simple. Our planet is wrapped in a tangle so dense and complex as to make it impossible to manage. The result is a gigantic, gluey, sticky layer that covers the planet almost at random and, instead of distributing resources, scatters them, creating waste and losses that leave boundless areas completely dry. As an artist my task is to describe this chaotic system, and I know that I cannot see many of its pieces; they are empty, and so I leave them in my paintings as smooth, glossy white that contrasts with the textured layer of reality from which the figure of a woman emerges, made all the more fascinating by being seen only in pieces”.

KayOne, born Marco Mantovani, is at once a juggler, an artist and a magician who, in his visual laboratory, seamlessly mixes glues, earths, sands, pigments, lacquers, enamels, spray paints, varnishes, and then metals, wood, canvas, paper, according to a recipe that seems at once very ancient and absolutely new and original, entirely logical and coherent yet each time different from the previous ones; a recipe for manipulating matter and form that only he knows and is able to reproduce magically each time, and thanks to which he manipulates, mixes, kneads and transforms the very meaning, the deepest meaning, of form. A painter who is at once instinctive and highly controlled, KayOne is indeed able to build up the painting with a layer that mixes warmth and coolness: it is the warmth of a painting that lives on a quick, immediate, vibrant gesture, and on a full-bodied, layered, magmatic matter, as alive and pulsating as can be. Through a mix of studied dynamism and calculated gestural expression, of warmth and coolness, of almost mathematical calculation and very strong emotion, from this crossing of overflowing visual energy and perfect control of the final image, the originality and power of KayOne's painting are born

Leonardo Montemanni was born in Asmara, Eritrea, on 8 June 1971. In 1988 came the decisive encounter with Graffiti, or “Writing”. Graffiti art, which had only just landed in Europe, represented a fascinating and mysterious culture in the eyes of its first pioneers, such as Leonardo. Leonardo uses what he has learnt to structure social, cultural and educational projects in high-risk neighbourhoods of his own city and province. Leonardo Montemanni has a figurative stylistic approach which, in graffiti, took its first steps within the so-called “aerosol art” current, the airbrush-like use of the spray can. His strong point is puppets, the characters that animate the large wall compositions known as “Hall of fame”. Alongside his figurative work, Leo pursues a stylistic study of lettering, trying his hand at the most varied techniques and ranging from the historic “throw-ups bubble style” to evolved forms of “wildstyle” and the first experiments with “3D” and hyperrealism in Italy. The themes Leonardo deals with are mainly children, portrayed while asleep or at play; it is an attempt to find a channel of communication that, through painting, creates direct contact with an intimate part inherent in each of us: the dream as a connecting element between the rational and the spiritual.

Elvis Pregnolato, known as Mambo, was born in Cles (TN) in 1974 and a few years later moved to the hills of the province of Bologna, where he lives with his mother, herself a painter, who encouraged him from the start to develop his precocious artistic talent. The main elements that distinguish Mambo's artistic path and determine its appeal and uniqueness within the Italian street art scene lie in his skill at, and interest in, continual decontextualisation, with a distinctive, ironic and irreverent style that combines Dada and Pop art. Another characteristic is his marked taste for pictorial rendering, in pursuit of that perfection and care for the smallest details that is clearly evident in each of his works, whether aimed at realistic reproduction or at abstraction. All these characteristics are often placed at the service of the self-affirming message typical of writing, towards which Mambo takes an unusual stance, creating surprising “ready-mades” that reveal a hint of irony, and giving rise to a play of cross-references in which figure, lettering and found object are often incorporated into one another, ending up merging in the acquisition of a new, powerful expressive code.

Alias Massimiliano Gatti, born in 1973 in Milan, where he lives and works. He began his artistic activity working in the field of illustration and comics. Over the years, alongside his work as an illustrator, he has pursued personal research, producing canvases, sculptures and installations with which he has taken part in countless exhibitions, the most significant and recent being: in 2006 he took part, creating a series of wall paintings, in the event My name is at the Triennale Bovisa in Milan; in 2007 he took part in the exhibition Street Art sweet art curated by Alessandro Riva at the PAC, Padiglione di Arte Contemporanea, in Milan, and the same year he took part in the Milan leg of the world tour of the Cowparade by the Swiss sculptor Pascal Knapp. In recent years the artist has devoted himself mainly to wall painting, producing works for Bocconi University in Milan, Mediaset and others. After meeting Raptuz he joined the famous TDK Crew of Milan, with which he organises and takes part in initiatives such as L.A. Goldrush in Los Angeles.

Andrea Sergio was born in Brindisi in 1978. His painting springs from the metropolitan experience of writing, from his passion – and former profession – for Japanese cartoons and the latest graphic techniques, and from his volcanic creative personality. The originality of his research and chromatic experimentation is immediately striking; he uses varied methods and techniques, creating unsuspected and fluid syntheses among drips of colour, tags, stylised or encrypted written thoughts, and fantastic, surreal, dreamlike drawings. He invents a world inhabited by new symbols and characters, an emphasised, deformed, deconstructed world, in which the artist “peels” his subjects off the wall surface, dragging them onto canvas or transforming them into toys and installations. This is how he even manages to “resurrect” lifeless objects, fragments of the street such as mattresses, refrigerators, washing machines and televisions, salvaging them from rubbish dumps and turning them into angels, Fellinian dolls, little animals that are partly tender and partly cynical, sensual and sexual allusions. Everything is done with great irony, with a play of thoughts that scales reality down and explores new horizons; and so his art floats in the universe of the most dynamic contemporary languages.

Raptuz, registered at birth as Luigi Muratore, was born in 1968 in the Milan hinterland and from an early age came into contact with the realities of a deprived and not exactly “peaceful” provincial area. In 1990, with a group of artists, he founded the TDK Crew, which soon became a real legend in the Italian writing scene. The Crew, known both for its countless commissioned works and, above all, for its “dark side”, as the artist likes to call its “not exactly authorised” activity on trains and underground trains, remains a point of reference on the Italian scene to this day. Raptuz's painting reflects an increasingly troubled existence, characteristic of the modern age, establishing close links with the language of Art Informel and with Pollock's use of colour. The informal element lies not so much in the mark as in the matter, which recalls the roughness of the bare wall, resolving itself in the forceful gesture and in colours that light up with a symbolic charge. Graphic elements, figurative elements, almost propagandistic slogans, marks, gestures, shading, overlays and splashes coexist as elements in differing relationships with one another, part of a personal world, infinitely variable and open to interpretation from infinite perspectives, despite the apparent continuity of the basic approach.

Renato Di Lorenzo, known as Rendo, began his adventure in the world of hip hop culture at the age of 15, struck by the energy of the break dancing and graffiti he saw in the film Beat Street and in the exhibition Arte di Frontiera. After practising the traditional activity of a writer for almost ten years, Rendo embarked on a new phase of his personal development, approaching the world of design, first as a student and eventually as a teacher. This experience inevitably changed his original view of the world of graffiti, triggering a long period of reflection and rethinking of the aesthetic canons he had used in the past, and leading him towards sculpture, first of letters and later of abstract elements. Over the past year he has explored the potential of painted sculptures (pittosculture), which allow him to depict in a semi-two-dimensional way, and with greater expressive freedom, his spatial structures, which at times become complex narrative systems.

Alessio Schiavon was born in Madonna di Campiglio in 1975. DIY (Do it yourself) culture, applied to his graphic design studies, turned stickers and posters into his natural medium of creative expression. “When I arrived in the city, what struck me most were people's faces and expressions, marked by life in the metropolis and partly masked... everyone seemed to want to appear to be what they were not. So I began to paint these people using supports taken from the street, such as cardboard, wardrobe doors, pieces of wood, etc...” Thus the “Untho” propaganda project was born. The word “Untho” arose from the combination of these ideas and serves to define Alessio's first works. Untho is in fact a false acronym of the words: UrbaN TrasH Optimized. The word “Urban” represents the city, since the main subject of Alessio's works is precisely the people who live in it. “Trash”, that is, rubbish, refers to the elements he takes from the street. “Optimized”, on the other hand, refers to the photos of the paintings prepared for publication on his website, untho.net – optimised. He thus began to simplify the lines of his works until he obtained the silhouette of Untho, which he then combined with a message: “Untho is never tired”. It is a clear, provocative message that expresses the tension Alessio sees in people's faces. He began printing posters and stickers at home and then sticking them up in the street. Meanwhile he travelled to snowboard (ten years as a professional, and still supported by some of the most important companies on the market) and in every place he visited he left an Untho poster/sticker. Today Untho is not only an art project but also a clothing line, in which whoever buys a T-shirt becomes the standard-bearer of a message: Untho is Never Tired.

Fabrizio Sarti, known as Sea, was born in Varese in 1977. In 2000 he decided to pour all the experience he had gained on the street onto more traditional supports such as canvases, wooden panels and clothing, thus unwittingly launching the SeaCreative project. Within this new artistic dimension Sea gives ever more space to the study of his characters, who gradually become the undisputed protagonists of his works. Sea almost always portrays characters who surface in his mind, the product of the metropolitan input that a city like Milan can provide, but seen and reinterpreted in a comic-strip key. They are vaguely clumsy and decadent characters, immortalised for ever on canvas at the moment of their encounter with the mind of Seacreative; figures emerging from large flat backgrounds with conspicuous drips of paint, which very often retain the white of the canvas; men for ever on the point of saying something, with the somewhat cocky, swaggering attitude of someone who, on meeting you, says: “what's up dude?”. SeaCreative's work fundamentally responds to an irrepressible urge to paint. There is no surface, material or space that cannot be saturated with his detached-looking characters. Grinning faces that remind passers-by that all the space we do not fill with art is inevitably given away to nothingness.

Alessandra Odoni, known as Senso, was born in Bergamo in 1977. “Doing street art is above all a type of approach; it is the culture of working ‘outside’, often far from the classic sheets of paper, paintings and supports that create well-defined ‘frames’, both physical and conceptual. The street has no frames, and if it does, they are moments of a gaze that passes by, distracted and fickle as a mood. The outside is something ‘alive’; it is an organism that changes at every instant regardless of whether or not I decide to intervene on it; it is a life that does not stop, unlike a painting when the work is finished, but continues to migrate and evolve. I seek a dialogue with spaces; I stretch the frame to make it vanish; I prefer abandoned places, because there it is the environment and the passing of time that hold sway, and not the city with its vertical walls, more or less beautiful, more or less decorative. Rather than an artist I feel like an archaeologist, or a surgeon dissecting corpses (in this case urban tissues); I use a surreal, illustrative, comic-strip language to recount the fanta-reality in which I live”. Imaginary collective portraits, Unsustainable echo and Slow Connection are the three works presented for the exhibition at the museum. I used a mix of craft and digital techniques, as well as of supports (paper, cardboard, wood and PVC film). In this case I explored, in a symbolic key, the creation of certain knots. All three works take up my passion for technical books, diagrams and medical and scientific illustrations. I look at all this as a layperson; I observe these illustrations in a very disenchanted way, yet I consider them very poetic and rich in interpretative cues.

Born in Milan in 1973, where he lives and works. The artist took up Aerosol Art in 1990, beginning his artistic career with daily writing practice, painting letters on train carriages and walls in his original and innovative style: the Anatomic Style. The name of this style comes from the intertwining of bones and organic parts that form letters arranged symmetrically. This is how he became known on the Italian art scene and beyond. From the mid-'90s he took part in various conventions and at the same time carried out a number of commissioned works for IBM, Perugina, Timberland and others. In 1999 and 2001 he was invited to exhibit his paintings at the Airbrush in Milan, and from that moment he began to paint intensively on canvas.

Raffaele Collu, born in 1976, lives and works in Milan. He began his artistic career as a writer, painting letters and dynamics on the most varied surfaces of his city. Hence his interest in matter and in marks. A period of complete isolation led him to develop an interest in nature, which became the focus of the artist's poetics. The starting point is a very strong pictorial gesture that recalls Far Eastern calligraphy. This is followed by a layered process, a series of “cleanings”, aimed at defining details while at the same time letting part of the initial work show through, starting again with a simple, quick mark and washed-out colours. The artist's latest works show increasingly pronounced areas of shadow in the lower part, a kind of soul from which the composition springs and which stands in sharp contrast to it. The influence of traditional Eastern aesthetics and of J.W. Goethe's theory of colours is fundamental.