The theme park "Italia in Miniatura" in Rimini was founded by Ivo Rambaldi in 1970 with the aim of bringing together a selection of models synthesising Italy's monumental, architectural and landscape wealth.
In the late 1960s, Ivo Rambaldi—the owner of a plumbing and heating company and passionate about travel, history, and art—visited a miniature park during a visit abroad. He aimed to create a similar park in Italy, in order to showcase the Italian architectural heritage. Assisted by a team of technicians, surveyors, and experts, Ivo Rambaldi traveled over 27,000 kilometers to personally visit and measure churches, squares, bridges, and monuments, measuring tape in hand. He took over 6,000 photographs, requested drawings and maps from all Italian universities, and finally created his first monument: Sant'Apollinare in Classe, a tribute to Ravenna, his hometown. After three years of painstaking work, Italia in Miniatura opened its doors on July 1970, displaying the first 50 miniatures spread across a total area of ​​20,000 square meters.
Over time, the park has grown and now has more than 300 reproductions to scale, allowing visitors to take a cultural 'tour of Italy' in half a day.

This project Italia in miniature is an homage to both Umberto Eco and Luigi Ghirri, who was so fascinated by the park that he hastened to dedicate his project "In Scala" to it. A working group led by Joan Fontcuberta and Matteo Guidi decided to revisit "Italia in Miniatura" from an artistic point of view, to mark the half-century since its inauguration. This volume brings together eight contemporary views of young Italian creators, students at the ISIA of Urbino, who share different post-photographic approaches.

Historical and theoretical analysis is brought to us by Valentina Manchia and Jonathan Pierini's written contributions, while a dialogue - expressed in images - between Fontcuberta and Guidi outlines the project's origins.