Terræ Aquæ, 1. Padiglione Italia / Italian Pavilion L'Italia e l'Intelligenza del Mare. Storie | Sfide | Opportunità / Italy and the Intelligence of the Sea. Stories | Challenges | Opportunities

The catalogue of the Italian Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (10 May – 23 November 2025) is conceived as a contemporary portolano, a modern interpretation of the medieval nautical charts that, through skilled and imaginative draftsmanship, conveyed the intricacies of the then-known world. The editorial project is articulated in three distinct yet complementary volumes, each designed as a stage in a perceptive and intellectual journey.

The first gathers theoretical essays and critical reflections, accompanied by authored photographic narratives that engage with the exhibition’s themes, suggesting interpretative and conceptual trajectories.
The second offers a cartography of the plurality of languages and practices inhabiting the Italian Pavilion, through an installation project composed of display devices that elaborate upon universal archetypes. These are Wunderkammer capable of welcoming the visitor into a voyage across memory and landscape, visions, research, and projects of a possible Italy, born of the country’s collective intelligence.

The third collects the contributions of the public programme and further visual accounts drawn from workshops, events, and debates that unfolded within and around the Italian Pavilion — living testimonies of an open dialogue with the present.

Together, these three volumes constitute an intellectual and affective map, a critical device for navigating the “currents of the sea” of contemporaneity.

Italian / English edition. Translation by Edward Tosque.