Operazione Arcevia. Existential Community. The Reality of the Experience and the Utopia of the Vision

Operazione Arcevia (OA) is an urban settlement project, born for the purpose of the social, economic, and touristic regeneration of a marginal area in the Marchigiane hills, characterized by its postwar exodus. Conceived between 1972 and 1974 on the initiative of the businessman Italo Bartoletti, like every newly constituted city it was designed with a political and cultural identity by the architect Ico Parisi in collaboration with two renowned critics (Cripolti and Restany), a psychologist, and a large number of artists (Arman, César, Ceroli, Soto, Staccioli, among others). OA remained in its germinal phase, and this was indeed its final result, the fruit of participative work presented at several exhibition events: Venice 1976; Rome 1979). In this ideal city imagined by the erudite group of operators, along with its utopian aspects, there are also practical ones and design hypotheses that can still inspire and provide food for thought: the close collaboration between planners and artists; anti-monumental intentions for art with a social nature and characterized by shared practice; built-up urban relations and the landscape dimension; the coexistence between productive and residential communities and temporary communities, both touristic, in terms of hospitality, and as a secular space in which to take refuge. Cooperating together with Parisi and the critics were 33 artists who together created tavole progettuali (design boards) that combined design, technical design, photographic images, and collages, i.e. fully-fledged works of art and creativity.