(in)solito

How can small provincial towns be enhanced through a printed publishing project?

(in)solito is a biannual magazine that in every issue looks at one different small provincial town or village, which is very often not well known or considered to be the ‘usual villages’, where you do the ‘usual things, you see the ‘usual people and you visit the ‘usual places’. The magazine describes everyday moments in the village portrayed through places, stories, and meetings with people. The magazine deals at the same time with topics that are related to the traditions (what is usually told about that town) and those that talk about hidden realities (what is unusually described of that town).

The magazine is designed for locals and people unfamiliar with the country covered in each issue. Locals can feel mirrored by the stories and photographs shown in the magazine and can therefore also discover how their fellow citizens live the town and its traditions and they can explore hidden realities of where they live. Non-locals or tourists, on the other hand, can use the magazine to discover new places from a different perspective focusing on the stories of its inhabitants and their places, and what lies behind what is commonly told about that town.

The final aim of this project is to realize a graphic publishing project to give voice to the cultural identity of a ‘usual’ provincial town, in this first issue: of Valeggio sul Mincio, a place of Veneto in Italy, by telling what is ‘usually’ not told.

Each small town apparently always looks like ‘the usual provincial town’, but leafing through each issue one can perceive its uniqueness.