The exhibition shows documents and materials collected over twenty years, in chronological order, to learn about the sites designated by the International Carlo Scarpa Garden Prize, to recount their shape and life, to organise the field trips, the dossiers, seminars and public ceremonies, each year.

Each site is illustrated by a selection of books, magazines, geographic and topographic maps, drawings and audiovisuals preserved in the Foundation’s documentation centre.

In the exhibition halls of Palazzo Bomben, the maps and images are displayed on vertical panels and the books are available for referencing on a large table, divided by place.

The audiovisuals are displayed on two screens and a touch screen.

In other words, a trip through the moments and themes of a work spanning over twenty years. To get to know the work, the visitor can decide how long to stay, or he/she can decide to stop and study as needed. For each place, in addition to the publications in the designated box, the lists of the materials available in the library, in Palazzo Caotorta next door, are also provided.

The exhibition ends with the materials from the twentieth edition of the prize, dedicated to the Finnish site around the chapel of the Otaniemi university campus, a small mid Twentieth century masterpiece by Kaija and Heikki Siren. Thanks to the generosity and kindness of the Siren family, and of the son Jukka in particular, the exhibition includes drawings of a first, unrealised project and, in the “myths room”, twenty original drawings and the model of the parish complex. A short documentary, filmed in early March 2009 at the site and in the Siren home, helps capture the spiritual atmosphere of the chapel, some aspects of parish life, and allows the visitor to get to know Heikki Siren (b. 1918) and two of his children, through some excerpts of amusing and touching conversation with the Foundation’s delegation. The particularly vast bibliography of the Otaniemi Chapel is divided into sections: Finland, Helsinki, Otaniemi (Aalto), sacred Finnish architecture, Siren.

The exhibition is curated by Domenico Luciani, with Patrizia Boschiero and Diana Gentili, and with Daniela Colaci, Massimo Rossi, Simonetta Zanon.