Aosta makes a link between past and present through residents’ involvement

Citizens can vote online to immortalize a drawing by Francesco Corni

Francesco Corni, a famed Italian draughtsman and artist who specialized in rendering highly detailed panoramic depictions of what historical cities would have looked like, passed away in January this year. His life and work were intimately linked to the city of Aosta, located in the Alps, and in commemoration, the local authorities have organized large-scale screenings of the drawings he made showing what Roman Aosta looked like and how some of its buildings were constructed.

These screenings will run until 6 January (between 16:30 and 22:00) on the façade of the building facing the Porta Praetoria. In order to make residents think even more and look deeper into these rich illustrations, the City Council has decided to organize an online contest where people can vote to choose their favourite image. Once it has been decided upon, the regional heritage superintendancy will have the option to turn it into a permanent mural.

Aosta was known as Augusta Praetoria Salassorum during the Roman Empire

Aosta was founded as a Roman colony in the 1^st century BC and an important outpost in the Alps. This ancient heritage is still reflected in its name ‘Aosta’ from ‘Augusta Praetoria’. There are many Roman ruins that can be seen today there, including its town walls, preserved almost in their entirety.

Mr Corni drew the city with the knowing eye of a historian and an archaeologist, showing in exquisite detail bird-eye views, which help contemporary viewers appreciate how our past might have looked like. His drawings are a stark reminder that urban culture planning have existed for a long time now.

During the artist’s life, two exhibitions had been organized which presented the drawings to the public, one in 2011 and another one in 2014. And now with the initiative called ‘Disegna la tua città’ (‘Draw your city’), art and history fans can do their part in immortalizing both Mr Corni’s work while giving the wider public the possibility to always have a window to their city’s distant past.

For those who are intrigued by the initiative, they can head over to Aosta Municipality’s Facebook page and see the 22 images collected in an album. The good news is that they can vote even more than once in case they find it hard to single out just one drawing.