Touring Club Italiano's 125-Year History in 125 Photos at Milan's Palazzo Lombardia

Curated by photographer Luca Santese, the exhibition 'Immaginario' at Palazzo Lombardia in Milan presents 125 vintage black-and-white photographs celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Touring Club Italiano. The images are drawn from the Touring Archive, which holds 350,000 prints dated between 1870 and 1970. These small-format geographic photos depict locations from Venice to Molise, the Dolomites to Africa, Japan to North Cape. Since 1894, founding member Luigi Vittorio Bertarelli emphasized collecting iconographic material to create the 'greatest illustration of Italy.' Initially, members contributed photos from their own collections or took new ones; later, materials were purchased from international agencies or commissioned from professionals like Bruno Stefani, Paolo Monti, Gianni Berengo Gardin, and Luigi Ghirri. Since 2014, the archive has been undergoing cataloging and digitization, gradually being made available online for consultation.