The construction of the motorway network represents a key moment of awareness for the country. It reflects Italy’s vast scale and geographical complexity, connecting its hundreds of cities and territories, while revealing its ever-growing potential as a travel destination.
The sequence of major and minor events marking the development of the network is traced here through a wealth of documents, photographs, moving images, maps, tourist guides, plans, and drawings drawn from our historical archives, as well as from the MAXXI Architecture Collections and the Touring Club Italiano.
Among images of construction sites, early-generation service stations, and rest areas, we also see the contribution of some of Italy’s great architectural masters to the “motorway project” – particularly through the proposals by Studio BBPR for various corners of the country. These are not only infrastructure designs, but also pioneering attempts to integrate architecture into the landscape – well ahead of the cultural norms of their time.
Just like Roman roads, and later those of the medieval period, the motorway has generated architecture, cities, and landscapes that would otherwise not exist. The occasions for these foundational processes are many – within the motorway system, they often take shape in the form of user services and safety equipment.