As Genoa’s iconic Lanterna lighthouse casts its steady beam over the Ligurian coast, a new light is being shed on the city’s relationship with its landmarks and the world of architecture at large. September 2025 marks a vibrant moment for Italy’s arts and culture scene, with two major exhibitions inviting visitors to rethink the meaning of place, memory, and humanity’s role in shaping the built environment.
At the heart of Genoa, the Galata Museo del Mare is hosting "Genova e la Lanterna," a photographic exhibition by Angelo Zammarrelli, curated by Andrea Botto. Running from September 18 to October 19, 2025, this show offers a fresh, introspective look at the city’s most enduring symbol—the Lanterna lighthouse. Sixteen fine art photographs, realized between 2016 and 2018, are displayed in the Galleria delle Esposizioni, with free entry for all. According to Telenord, Zammarrelli’s images are printed with pigment and mounted on aluminum, evoking the aesthetic of the American color photography school, notably William Eggleston and Joel Meyerowitz. The works are described as “apparently simple, yet complex in their ability to suggest connections, references, and juxtapositions, inviting the visitor to slow and reflective observation.”
But why focus on the Lanterna? For locals, it’s more than a navigational aid—it’s a constant companion in the city’s ever-changing landscape, a “familiar yet enigmatic” presence. Zammarrelli’s lens avoids cliché, instead revealing the lighthouse as both an anchor and a mystery, threading through narrow alleys, wide panoramas, and everyday scenes. The result, as the exhibition’s catalog (published by Il Canneto Editore and featuring texts by Stefano Fera and Botto) suggests, is a portrait of Genoa that is at once deeply personal and universally resonant. The Lanterna stands as a symbol of return—a fixed point in a port city defined by departures and homecomings, by the dance of memory and transformation.
While Zammarrelli’s photographs invite viewers to contemplate Genoa’s identity, just a few hundred kilometers away in Venice, the 2025 Architecture Biennale is prompting an even broader re-examination of how we design and inhabit our world. Open until early November and curated by renowned architect Carlo Ratti, this year’s Biennale adopts the ambitious theme "Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective." According to the official program, the focus is squarely on climate change and the urgent need for sustainable architectural solutions. The event is unprecedented in scale, featuring over 750 participants from an extraordinary range of fields: architects, engineers, mathematicians, climate scientists, philosophers, artists, cooks, programmers, writers, artisans, farmers, and stylists. This diversity reflects a deliberate shift—an open selection process guided by an interdisciplinary curatorial team, aiming to foster collaboration among all forms of intelligence in facing environmental challenges.
Among the standout projects, Harvard University’s "Cool forest" offers an interactive journey through dense vegetation, using sensors to track sap flow, humidity, and temperature. As reported by the Biennale’s curators, the installation “makes visible the role of landscape in mitigating future climate extremes,” highlighting the fundamental power of greenery as urban infrastructure. The Estonia Pavilion’s "Let me warm you" takes a different approach, questioning current trends in climate insulation retrofits for buildings. It transforms the façade of a Venetian building with insulating panels—mirroring mass-construction techniques from Estonia—and explores how such interventions can enhance both spatial quality and social life in large residential districts.
Hospitality and belonging are at the heart of "My home is your home," the Qatar Pavilion’s exploration of how urban and architectural forms express community across the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. The exhibition delves into how both modern and contemporary architecture respond to communal needs and reimagine social belonging in rapidly changing societies.
Sustainability and regeneration underpin "Time space existence," a collective exhibition by the European Cultural Centre at Palazzo Bembo, Palazzo Mora, and the Giardini della Marinaressa. This year’s theme—repair, regenerate, reuse—brings together leading figures such as Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena (of Elemental, a Pritzker Prize winner), the Future Cities Laboratory, and Princeton University. Their work underscores a global movement toward not just building anew, but healing and reimagining existing spaces.
Honoring the legacy of landscape architect Jung Youngsun, the Korean National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art presents "For all that breathes on Earth" in the newly restored Procuratie in Piazza San Marco. Jung, the first Korean woman to qualify as a landscape engineer, is celebrated for her pioneering sensitivity to the creation and restoration of green spaces in both public and private contexts. Her influence, as the exhibition notes, unites sustainability with the imperative of building community—a message that resonates far beyond Korea’s borders.
This year also marks the debut of Togo’s Pavilion at the Biennale, with "Considering Togo’s architectural heritage." Commissioned by Sonia Lawson, founder and director of the Palais de Lomé, and curated by Studio Neida, the exhibition offers meticulous documentation of Togo’s evolving architectural landscape. From the ancient caves of Nôk to hybrid Afro-Brazilian structures and mid-20th-century modernism, the display invites visitors to consider the interplay between traditional construction and contemporary techniques. Everyday objects, crafts, and terracotta amphorae are woven into the installation, prompting reflection on the cultural and social dimensions of building.
Across all these projects, a common thread emerges: the need for flexibility, dynamism, and radical rethinking in the face of global change. The Biennale’s organizers argue that “rethinking radically the ways in which buildings, cities, and green spaces are designed is fundamental to facing a world in total transformation.” The hope is that by bringing together natural, artificial, and collective intelligences, new attitudes and strategies for environmental stewardship will emerge.
Back in Genoa, Zammarrelli’s photographs remind us that even the most familiar symbols—like the steadfast Lanterna—can invite new perspectives if we pause to look again. Whether through the lens of art or the blueprint of architecture, Italy’s fall exhibitions are asking tough questions about identity, memory, and our shared responsibility for the places we call home. As visitors wander between luminous photographs and visionary pavilions, they’re encouraged to see both city and planet as spaces of return, regeneration, and hope.
In a season marked by reflection and innovation, Genoa and Venice stand as beacons—reminding us that the stories we tell about our cities shape not only our understanding of the past, but also the possibilities for our collective future.
