According to the European Environment Agency, air pollution is Europe’s most significant environmental health risk. Milan is one of the most polluted cities in Europe. According to data collected in 2022, air pollutant levels often exceeded EU standards. European Union. In the first ten months of the year alone, particulate matter levels exceeded the limit of 50 micrograms per cubic meter for 54 days. Milan is immersed in a cloud of smog produced by factories, cars, and heating implants. This gets stuck in the Po Valley and falls to the ground when it rains, causing statues to blacken and dirtying balconies, cars, and windowsills with black dust.

‘La Purificazione’ is an attempt to make visible the air pollution in Milan, which is otherwise practically invisible and therefore overlooked by many people. The Madonnina, the symbol of Milan, was screen-printed using as ink the smog dust that settles on cars left parked on the street mixed with water. The text is a passage from Calvino’s novella ‘La nuvola di smog’, where the protagonist describes a cloud of smog hovering over the city from the top of a hill. Looking at it, the protagonist realizes that he can only see that and not focus on the rest of the landscape.

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