From 1st to 27th October 2026, the Via Zirardini Open-Air Gallery is hosting the photography exhibition GIOCARE ALLA GRANDE, GIOCARE DI PIÙ, a project by the Lucertola Ludens Association.
On display are images taken from Marco Botti’s book Giochi di una volta, which transports visitors back to the 1976, when a group of parents took their children to play traditional games in an old farmhouse.
A journey back in time to when playing still meant, above all, being together, inventing, moving about, exploring and sharing spaces.
The photographs depict a simple experience that is, today, increasingly rare: a group of parents taking their children to an old farmhouse to rediscover and play traditional games. These images evoke an era in which play was predominantly a collective experience, enjoyed outdoors and often without the need for facilities, tools or equipment.
Fifty years on, alongside traditional games, spontaneous playgroups, the experience of free outdoor play and the opportunity for children to explore public spaces independently have also gradually declined.
The exhibition forms part of this very reflection and is one of the initiatives within the wider Festa del diritto al gioco, which aims to bring the cultural and educational value of play back into the spotlight.
