A new symbol for Milan

Milan Municipality asks its citizens to identify six icons through an online survey. The topic is art. In fact, the choice is among unique chefs-d'oeuvre, such as Caravaggio's Bowl of Fruit, De Chirico's Mysterious Baths, Mantegna's Died Christ, Leonardo's Protrait of a Musician, Pollaiolo's Portrait of a Woman,Hayez' Portrait of Alessandro Manzoni, Piero della Francesca's Montefeltro altarpiece and Canova's Ebe.

In total, people are called to vote 6 out of 25 masterpieces that better represent Milan creativity during the 21^st Triennale, taking place from the 2^nd April until the 12^th September 2016. In parallel, a twin palimpsest with events, debates and diverse gatherings.

The survey is open to everybody, i.e. citizens, tourists or Milan-lovers. Since the 2^nd of February, people were able to vote through a simple click on the website expoincitta.com those works which better represent the city, along with its history and its current identity, indissolubly linked to the past and the future one. The survey is open until the 29^th of February and each person can vote a maximum of 6 masterpieces. Furthermore, the competing icons are promoted during specific meetings.

Filippo Del Corno, Milan Assessor for Culture, stressed how successful was last year the idea of choosing some symbols of the city. In that occasion, institutions made the selection for Expo. This event inspired this year initiative, when the bottom-up approach will show the icons the city feels more attached to. In addition, having the people voting is a great chance to find out which works the city is more proud of and which ones are less known, if not ignored. For instance, a few people from Milan are aware of the presence of Picasso's Femme Nue at Mudec Museum.

Lastly and without any doubt, engaging in the debate withthe citizenship in public initiatives is a sign of institutional accountability Milan can be proud of.

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