The interdisciplinary exhibition Pianeta città. Arti cinema musica design nella Collezione Rota 1900-2021 opens on 9 July, in the rooms of the Ragghianti Foundation in Lucca, Italy. The two main themes – the development of the idea of city and the change in the transmission of knowledge – are explored through Italo Rota’s collection of objects: over five hundred pieces gathered by the architect, different in type and size.

Books, works of art, posters, record covers, design pieces and magazines help define an itinerary that starts with the birth of the contemporary city and reaches the Magalopolis. “After forty years of intertwined collecting and work, this is an archive of common heritage about the city, which serves to imagine the future,” explains Italo Rota.

Pianeta città (City Planet) will run until 24 October: an exhibition involving the history of art and cinema, economic geography, architecture and urban planning, and also exploring the evolution and significance of the book as an object.

The concept was devised by Paolo Bolpagni with Aldo Colonetti, a philosopher and scholar of architecture and design, and Italo Rota. “Pianeta città”, says Aldo Colonetti, “is a physical and mental journey where everyone will find a piece of their own history, without forgetting, as the Greek poet Alceo wrote, that cities are men”.