From May to July 2009, trams, buses, and 16 underground stations across Milan will be dressed with unusual billboards: not ads, but faces and words of first and second generation migrants, who amount to 25% of our daily urban companions.

Luoghi comuni/little migrating stories is an anthology of short stories written by first and second generation migrants of all ages, men and women from many countries all over the world. These remarkable true stories and interviews have been collected in Milan, Turin and Naples by a team of psychologists, researchers and journalists.

Luoghi comuni/little migrating stories aims to capture the wealth that circulates invisibly among the dwellers of a city; it wishes to associate a name and a face with these stories, and invest this legacy in the spaces where people come across each other most often. The stories, both in Italian and in the original language, are printed on billboards located on public transport and in underground stations in the cities which have taken part in the project. The short stories were transcribed with the contribution of an exceptional editor, Roberto Piumini.

The project proposes a re-thinking of 'common places': a search for identities beyond stereotypes, symbolic imagery and diverse languages may transform a distracted, rushed moment into the possibility of a smile and complicity with others.

After beginning in Milan in Spring 2009, Luoghi comuni continues its journey in 2010 with a new destination: Naples and the surrounding area.

Luoghi comuni | Milano - April 2009 www.lettera27.org/index.php?idlanguage=1&zone=9&i...

Luoghi comuni is soon to move on to other Italian cities. To take part in the next stop in this journey, tell us your story by sending it to luoghicomuni@lettera27.org