THAT MUSEUM CALLED CITY
the places that tell, the city that speaks

City is equivalent to a museum, it is the best organ of memory created by man so far and the best agent of evaluation and discrimination
Mumford

The sense of the project is to bring out "that museum called the city": the art and history that we have available in the public space, every day and for free.
The goal is to enrich the daily experience of people, citizens or tourists. The city is the sedimentation of information that we no longer read. Not all are architects, art historians, historians, not all know the battle of Varese because they have never "met" it. The thing that is forgotten is that this “encounter” takes place every day. The aim of the project is to make this information accessible by following narrative paths which are the paths of everyday life: home/work, bus lines, home/school, enriching them with guides, reports, audio guides, maps.  
 
thematic levels
    1. cultural heritage
    2. environmental goods
    3. public art
    4. historic shops
    5. architecture (1930s, liberty, villas, contemporary)
 
paths
    • cycle paths
    • urban and suburban bus routes
    • pedestrian paths
    • sports trails
 
EXAMPLE:
Urban transport: in addition to being able to download the timetables and stops from the company's website, a map will be available, with points where we can discover the physical places that we will be able to read with captions and see through photographs and listen to thanks to an audio guide (podcasts).
http://www.ctpi.it/direzioni/servizi%20urbani/mappa?linea=006 LINE E
Matthew's story
I'm Matteo, I live in Velate and I have to go to the Mulini di Gurone by bus. On any day I would sit on the bus and listen to music closing myself in, but today there is a new project in Varese "that museum called the city" ... let's try it
Sunday 1815, piazza santo stefano Line E towards Bizzozero
I get on the bus and download the audio guide as the sheet given to me by the driver explains, but I'm sharp and young and I use the qrcode that I find stuck to the seat where I sit and with my phone I understand the meaning of the project, I see the map and the photos and I download the audio guide with what interests me, personalizing it by following what the project calls "levels of awareness". The bus leaves and I press PLAY: I listen to the story of Velate and its many now closed historic #shops,
1818, Oriani stop
now the narrator goes on to describe the great IACP project of #popularbuilding and I finally make sense of those volumes that I have always considered sad
1821, Caracciolo, 55 (Saffi)
I see Villa Baragiola, thanks to the audio guide, I finally discover what is hidden behind that spire inside the building materials retailer, I see a nice photo of the route on the web map (which I am following by georeferencing myself with my mobile phone) taken by Nicola Domaneschi, there they are two statues that look like a work by Christo (I look into my cellphone who Christo is because I don't know him very well) and I listen to the reading that the photographer gave of those statues covered with film to protect them during construction
1823, Caracciolo (fr. Piedmont)
I see the castle of Masnago and listen to the #history of the castle and its transformation into a museum
18:24, Sanvito 110 ( Campigli )
to my right I see Mount Campigli and I know that there is the Palace Hotel as the writing indicates but the audio guide tells me about the destroyed funicular that reached the Kursaal and I wonder what a kursaal is (a sign on my diary that I need to look into this topic and I save on my internet browser the in-depth link to which the guide sends me, this intrigues me, tomorrow I will go up to see this funicular better)
18:29 Sanvito ( XXV April )
I pass in front of the Magnolia mapped in the #nature section, I discover its value and I remember my girlfriend who went to high school and she told me that when the Magnolia was in bloom it meant that school was over and in the guide I find a #story about a girl who writes the same thing, I laugh and think: "the world is really small"
18:31 Sacco (Bernascone)
instead of listening to information from the Estense palace, I'm curious to find out more about the Bank building, that glass volume made up of flying cubes that has always fascinated me and from which crazy sunsets are reflected. I discover that the architect designed it. Brunella an important figure who died too young and the voice of the audio guide explains this #contemporary architecture to me and I think Brunella had a brilliant idea.
18:35 Magenta 36 ( FNM Bridge )
I pass in front of the former agricultural consortium and appreciate the delicate tone-on-tone stone scansion and the guide describes the #architecture of that period
...
Then the hospital, the Capuchin convent and its stories, the former asylum and arrival in Bizzozzero
…
18:49 Borri 388 (Aurora)
I get off, I look at the clock and time has flown by: I've been on the bus for almost half an hour but I've learned a lot...but there's still a lot the guide is just a beginning,..a little taste.
Tomorrow I will go up to Colle Campigli and ask Gaia to come...I wonder if she will see me with different eyes if I tell her the story of the funicular...maybe even a kiss... :)
 

a VA'rese project - micro valorisation of the everyday -
with the collaboration of FAI Varese, WGart.it, restorers Rossella Bernasconi, Simonetta Pagani, Paola Stopar Legatti
operational team: Marzia Gabriele, Marco Zanini
multimedia contributions
photographs: Marco Zanini, Giulia Bombaglio
sources:
places collected by: Geoportale Lombardia, PGT Varese, VincoliinRete, ProArbora, Le Meraviglie di Varese, Lombardia Beni Culturali, Mimoa
pedestrian network: data elaborated by PGT Varese (we thank the SIT for the collaboration)
bus network: CTPI, SIT
sports network: Strava, Open Runner, piste-ciclabili.com
That Museum Called City is a free and open data project. The data that, over years of work,  we have re-processed have been collected thanks to the work of various platforms, sites and realities in the area. If you use these data, we ask you to cite the source and VA'rese -micro-enhancement of the newspaper-. If you want more information, you can write to varese.microvalorizzazione@gmail.com. THANK YOU