SmartCityLife Officially Names Via Italo Calvino: A Special Tribute to the Writer on the Fortieth Anniversary of His Death

To mark the fortieth anniversary of the death of Italo Calvino, this morning, in the CityLife park, the new Via Italo Calvino was officially named with the unveiling of the plaque dedicated to the writer. The event was attended by the Councillor for Culture of the Comune di Milano, Tommaso Sacchi, the President of Municipio 8, Giulia Pelucchi, the CEO of SmartCityLife, Roberto Russo, and art historian and popularizer Jacopo Veneziani.

The naming further strengthens the connection between the CityLife district and culture, with a day dedicated to the writer that unites literature, art, and the participation of new generations.

“Italo Calvino was one of the greatest figures in our recent history,” said Councillor for Culture Tommaso Sacchi. “This is true both for his commitment, from a young age, in the partisan Liberation War, and for the cultural and political contribution he offered to the formation of our country. He was one of the most beloved storytellers of contemporary literature, capable of uniting rigour and imagination, and of giving us works that still teach us to look at the world with new eyes: lighter, more curious, more aware. Naming a street after him in Milano means making his legacy a living part of the city, a concrete sign that invites citizens and the new generations to encounter his voice daily. This day shows how literature can continue to dialogue with art, creativity, and urban life. I thank SmartCityLife for sharing this occasion with the Comune, offering spaces and projects that make the district a place of innovation but also of culture.”

“This street naming represents a broader project that includes schools in our area, highlighting the work that SmartCityLife has promoted in recent years as an entity that feels part of the community, starting from the involvement of the youngest. Furthermore, the tribute to Italo Calvino will allow young people to delve into his works and history in new and different ways,” stated Giulia Pelucchi, President of Municipio 8 Comune di Milano.

“Dedicating a street in the CityLife park to Italo Calvino means not only remembering one of the greatest Italian authors but also offering the new generations an opportunity to encounter his cultural legacy. The works of students from Liceo Artistico Boccioni and children from Rinnovata Scuola Pizzigoni demonstrate how literature can still inspire creativity and imagination today, becoming a living part of the city. We are proud that SmartCityLife confirms itself as a connector of urban innovation but also of culture, capable of connecting people, languages, and ideas,” declared Roberto Russo, CEO of SmartCityLife.

The naming ceremony was enhanced by a special performance by the Piccolo Teatro, which paid tribute to Italo Calvino. The actors Matteo Cecchi and Diamara Ferrero engaged the public, giving voice and body to iconic characters such as the Barone Rampante and Viola, in a passionate re-reading of some passages from the writer’s masterpiece. The two actors were also accompanied by the general director of the Piccolo Teatro, Lanfranco Li Cauli.

Subsequently, six graphic works created by students from class 3°I of the Liceo Artistico Boccioni during the 2024-2025 school year were also presented. For the second consecutive year, SmartCityLife has renewed a PCTO collaboration with this institute, which this year had Calvino’s Lezioni americane as its theme. Divided into groups, the students worked on the six values indicated by the writer – leggerezza (lightness), rapidità (quickness), esattezza (exactitude), visibilità (visibility), molteplicità (multiplicity), and concretezza (consistency) – transforming them into contemporary and accessible visual languages. The works are now installed along Via Calvino, where they dialogue with the urban space and the community that passes through it. In parallel, at the Orti Fioriti di CityLife, an exhibition of preparatory drawings tells the other side of the project: the creative process made up of drafts, attempts, and intuitions that led to the definition of the final works.

The morning was also an occasion to celebrate the young winners of the second edition of the Digital Art competition, promoted by SmartCityLife and aimed at students from the Milano art high schools Boccioni, Brera, Sacro Cuore, and Caravaggio. This year’s contest, dedicated to a visual reinterpretation of the Calvino universe, invited the young people to engage with digital and multimedia language to translate the writer’s literary legacy into images. Five works were awarded – first, second, and third place plus two special mentions – which stood out for originality, design quality, and the ability to dialogue with the values evoked by Calvino.

Here is the complete list of the awarded works:

First Place: “La distanza della Luna” by Alice Chinello (Liceo Artistico Statale di Brera)

Second Place: “Sospensione del Visibile” by Maddalena Luce Zoe Moletta (Liceo Artistico Statale di Brera)

Third Place: “Ringed City” by Alessandro Corrado Alagic’, Orlando Colombo, Elisa Hu, Wu Manting (Liceo Artistico Statale di Brera)

Honourable Mention “Per la Creatività dell’opera scultorea” (For the Creativity of the Sculptural Work): “La Pioggia” by Alessio Cirilli (Liceo Artistico Statale di Brera)

Honourable Mention “Per l’originalità del tema e la coerenza con il contesto urbano” (For the Originality of the Theme and Coherence with the Urban Context): “Le carte del Destino” by Victoria Paolucci (Liceo Artistico Statale di Brera)

Honourable Mention “Italo Calvino” awarded to Liceo Artistico Boccioni, and collected by the principal Stefania Caterina Giacalone, for the use of an alternative artistic language adopted for participation in the second edition of the Digital Art competition.

SmartCityLife awarded three scholarships to the winners, intended as a concrete incentive to encourage the young people to further invest in their personal growth and artistic training path.

From September 19 to 21, at the Orti Fioriti di CityLife, it will also be possible to admire, alongside the preparatory drawings of the Liceo Boccioni students, the works of the children from class IV of the Scuola Rinnovata Pizzigoni, created under the guidance of the Scuola del Fumetto. Through signs and colours, the little ones reinterpreted the characters of Calvino’s fairy tales, offering a creative tribute to the writer’s imagination with the freshness of childhood.

Furthermore, this evening, to conclude the celebrations, a screening of the film Italo Calvino nelle città is scheduled at AriAnteo CityLife, which the young winners of the DigitalArt competition will attend free of charge as an additional moment of tribute and reflection dedicated to the writer. For the students who received the honourable mention, the CEO of AriAnteo CityLife cinema, Lionello Cerri, also reserved a complimentary annual subscription.

For further information: Spencer&Lewis for SmartCityLife.