Genoa's Flying Walkways: An Architectural Discovery

Architect Matteo Orlandi won the 'Amate l'architettura!' call launched in March 2018 by the Fondazione dell'Ordine degli Architetti di Genova, surpassing 35 competitors. His project highlights Genoa's unique network of aerial passages—public and private walkways, suspended staircases, and elevators—that connect different levels of the hilly city. These structures, often unnamed and hidden, form a spontaneous, sometimes anarchic architecture that Orlandi calls 'aerial caruggi.' Orlandi (b. 1977) worked at Renzo Piano Building Workshop from 2008 and has taught at universities in Genoa, Vienna, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. He created a multimedia exhibition and a book titled 'Passerelle volanti. Genova camminando sospesi,' published by Tuss Edizioni. The exhibition runs until November 25 at Palazzo Grillo in Piazza delle Vigne, Genoa's historic center. The book, in Italian and English, features photographs and texts by Brunetto De Battè, Giancarlo De Carlo, Ester Armanino, and Predrag Matvejevic. Orlandi's work reframes these functional structures as poetic, vertiginous experiences that invite aesthetic contemplation.