Nomicosecittà Milano
In vita di Carlo Imbonati /
To the life of Carlo Imbonati

The walk with Marco Garofalo officially starts at 3 pm, but the morning is busy because of the preparation and of the encounters with those who help us to prepare every single detail. We leave from the square in front of Dergano metro station: Marco explains that when he was asked to lead a walk, he thought about the Isola neighborhood, where his studio is located and where he has been creating ties for years. Nevertheless, in the end he has chosen via Imbonati since this is the place where he was born, he grew up and it is a street, a whole world that has changed through time. Marco is also curious about the history related to the names of the streets, hence the idea to let “the phantom of Carlo Imbonati” lead the walk. Marco takes us under a railway bridge, at the crossing between via Imbonati and via Baldinucci. Carlo Imbonati (interpreted by the young actor Jacopo Rossi), introduces himself and asks to the walkers if they live in that street and if they know the history behind the name of their streets. And so, together with exchanges of quips in an archaic Milanese dialect, mixed with French, starts the ode To the life of Carlo Imbonati (a reference to the ode “To the death of Carlo Imbonati” by the Italian poet Alessandro Manzoni), who wants to see how the street named after him has been changing.

 
The first stop is in front of the commemorative plaque for officer Raiola, a young policeman killed at the end of the Nineties during a gunfire. Though the traffic is very noisy, the actress Marcela Serli (ATIR group), is able to create a very intimate moment while singing a Spanish song dedicated to the policeman. The next stop is very important for Marco: we stand in front of the door of the building where he grew up and still lives and we wait for a historical memory of the street, Mrs. Gianna, who managed the milk shop next door. Gianna gets emotional when she sees that all around 50 people are waiting for her. Mr. Pola then approaches her and starts a dialogue about their memories about the street. Soon after a guy from Bangladesh leans from a balcony showing his paintings as if it was an art gallery: the most recent one portrays via Imbonati itself. We continue towards the sweetest stop, the Zàini chocolate factory, where Stefan Schupp, a lover of both history and chocolate, recalls the history of the firm and its historical context (the jubilee is next year), while Mr. Azimonti, responsible for the firm's marketing gifts us with amazing chocolate. The history of via Imbonati is surely also one of important factories that closed down during the years, leaving place to new functions. 

That is the case of Maciachini Center, a recent intervention consisting in commercial and office buildings rising on the place once occupied by the famous chemistry factory Carlo Erba. Marco Grassidonio explains how that transformation has taken place. But for many, the Carlo Erba factory and in particular its tower, represent a symbol of fight and of reclaim of the rights to citizenship and equal opportunities for “the new Italians”. Marcelo, an Argentinean worker who spent a month on top of the tower with other three people, tells us about that experience and the support from the neighborhood. A temporary exhibition of historical photographs set in one of the empty commercial spaces of the Maciachini Centre and curated by Marco and Giovanni Garofalo is part of the walk. Some of the walkers and of the visitors recall memories and sometimes find themselves or friends in the pictures. It is a unique moment. But it is not the end: the sound of the djembés comes from outside and in few minutes the whole street heats with the African rhythms of the concert organized by A ke lei naa Dojo with the extraordinary participation of the drummer Seydou Dao. After having danced and singed it is time to relax at the festival in the park of via Livigno. 


Marco Garofalo (1976) In March 2012 he exhibited some mixed works at the gallery Valeria Bella in via San Damiano (Milano) and within the Festival of the African, Asian and Latin American Cinema of Milan, where he curated the exhibition “Good Morning Africa”. He teaches photography in Italian high schools and within social projects in Italy and abroad. In 2007 he has displayed his work “Passaggio 35” on the representation of urban and social transformations of Milan together with the master Gabriele Basilico in “Milano si mostra”, the largest open air exhibition ever organized in Milan. He is distributed by the agency LUZ photo.