In October 1964, almost twenty years after the end of the war and just eight years after the construction work began, the Autostrada del Sole was inaugurated.
It was the country’s largest infrastructure, whose very name expressed confidence in a future of properity and optimism. A 470-mile road that started from foggy Milan and crossed the peninsula all the way to Naples, connecting Bologna, Florence, and Rome along the way.

For this occasion, some of the greatest names in Italian photography traveled along it: Luca Campigotto with his spectacular bird’s-eye view images, Silvia Camporesi and her poetic travel notes, and, lastly, the faces and expressions of a traveling humanity as portrayed by Barbara Cannizzaro.

Essays and archival photographs document the Al’s epic construction, the inauguration ceremonies, and the cultural influence of our modern-day
regina viarum.