The cultural diversity that characterizes Porta Palazzo [home to Europe's largest open air market, in the centre of the Italian city of Turin] has today become legendary. The area is advertised to travelers as a postmodern Babel, but like all mythical representations, this hides a resounding historical forgery. The exposed multiculturalism is there, but it has died on account of its own over-exposure.

The many bodies of Porta Palazzo, and the flamboyant colors that they wear, are the sociable and interchangeable bodies of actors, called to appear before the eyes of a loyal and distant audience. Around the corner, towards the Piazza della Repubblica, the charm vanishes. What is magical about the center of the market, or about the bridge over the Dora?

Transforming the square into a center of attraction combined with the logical act of crossing has contributed to the depletion of the area, and its progressive disfiguration. And yet, it is just beyond the square that, through the cracks of the walls, the charming and immortal life of this Turin neighbourhood magically appears.