“Città Sospese” and “Gli Angoli di Belluno”: when ideas walk through time
These days, the shop windows of Belluno are becoming true windows onto art, capable of telling the story of the historic centre through images, memory, and creativity.
From November to the end of January, the historic centre of Belluno is experiencing a moment of renewed attention thanks to the widespread exhibition “Città Sospese”, which has brought images, art, and reflection into the empty shop windows of the city, attracting interest well beyond the local area.
This is a positive sign: it shows that the idea of enhancing the city centre through vacant shop windows is widely felt, timely, and necessary.
For this reason, and without any sense of controversy, it feels important to recall that this vision had already been shared, structured, and made public between 2021 and 2022 through a project called “Gli Angoli di Belluno”.
An idea born from the ground up, back in 2021
The Gli Angoli di Belluno project originated by developing an idea first proposed by municipal councillor (now Cultural Councillor) Raffaele Addamiano, who in the early months of 2021 suggested creating something concrete to restore dignity and beauty to the many empty shop windows in the city centre.
Using personal funds, Addamiano arranged for the printing of around one hundred posters featuring a striking image of Piazza dei Martiri, making them available to the owners of vacant shops as an initial symbolic act of care for the city.
From reaction to vandalism to a structured proposal
In the autumn of 2021, the historic centre of Belluno was affected by a night of vandalism that left dozens of shop windows defaced, forcing property owners and shopkeepers to clean them personally.
It was also from that moment that a clear conviction emerged: a historic city centre does not need destructive acts disguised as art, but constructive, shared ideas that respect the city and its community.
From this awareness came the evolution of the project: not only images, but information, storytelling, and identity.
Gli Angoli di Belluno: shop windows as urban info points
Gli Angoli di Belluno was conceived as a network of urban info points created inside vacant shop windows, featuring:
informational and photographic panels
stories, curiosities, and cultural content
QR codes linking to dedicated online pages
a special focus on both residents and visitors, encouraging discovery, awareness, and appreciation of the territory
It was a simple yet well-structured project, developed in collaboration with property owners and managers, with a clear objective of urban and tourism enhancement.
Ideas are not owned, but recognised
It is important to say this clearly: ideas are not owned, and when they are valid, it is natural for them to return, evolve, and be reinterpreted over time.
Today, “Città Sospese” is a visible and appreciated reality, and this can only be welcomed by those who had already imagined, years ago, a city centre capable of speaking through its shop windows rather than remaining silent.
To reaffirm the origins of Gli Angoli di Belluno does not mean diminishing what exists today, but rather reconstructing a sense of continuity, recognising that certain visions have roots, and that Belluno grows when ideas are listened to, cultivated, and carried forward over time.
A possible next step: discovering the historic corners of Belluno
Because Città Sospese has successfully drawn attention and inspired new ways of looking at empty spaces in the city centre, the hope is that its creators might now consider a new artistic and exhibition initiative.
A natural evolution could be one that guides residents and visitors toward the discovery of Belluno’s historic corners, as originally envisioned by Gli Angoli di Belluno: not only contemporary images, but a narrative of urban memory — streets, squares, and lesser-known places that have shaped the city’s identity.
In this context, the artistic reworking of historical photographs, presented alongside or reinterpreted in a contemporary way, could become a powerful tool. Such an approach would create a visual dialogue between what once was and what is today, capable of engaging, educating, and strengthening the bond between Belluno and those who live in or visit it.
This would once again transform shop windows into windows onto history, making the city centre not merely an exhibition space, but a true open-air narrative path, where art, memory, and place walk together.
A shared vision for the future
If Belluno today speaks of shop windows, art, images, and urban regeneration, it means the direction is the right one.
The hope is that this attention will not remain episodic, but will become a shared and lasting approach, capable of involving citizens, institutions, businesses, and the cultural world.
Because a beautiful city is not one without empty spaces, but one that knows how to transform emptiness into opportunity.
