The collection consists of the works produced by eight contemporary Italian and European artists to a commission from the Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea and realized in 2007 with the support of Cariplo and Milano Navigli.

The subject of the research was eight places of historic importance and natural beauty in Lombardy. The title, Storie immaginate in luoghi reali (“Imagined Stories in Real Places”), is intended to indicate that the places suggested by the museum constituted opportunities for the artists to develop their different projects in total freedom. In this light, the concept of place leaves room for the imagination and intentions of the artist and the commission can be seen as an effective means of promoting contemporary research.

Andrea Abati worked on the Vaso Re canal at Bienno, reconstructing episodes of local history through images and oral testimonies; Paola De Pietri in the district of the mountains and lakes of Brianza, recounting a dimension of silence and metaphysical suspension of places and people; Olivo Barbieri at the Castello di Somaglia, taking pictures from a helicopter, the method he has adopted in recent years; Gilbert Fastenaekens made a video installation on Villa Litta in Milan, putting together numerous images of daily life, work and celebration; Vittore Fossati worked on Villa Menafoglio Litta Panza at Biumo, choosing certain details of the place and focusing on the relationship between inside and outside; Jean-Louis Garnell has captured the distinctive spiritual atmosphere of the abbey of Morimondo, conveyed through its light, surfaces and structures; Jitka Hanzlová, at Palazzo Melzi d’Eril in Vaprio d’Adda, made a series of portraits of young people inspired by the portraits of Leonardo da Vinci, who spent several years of his life here; Alessandra Spranzi worked on the sense of abandonment and mystery she perceived in the former building of the Municipal Casino at San Pellegrino Terme.

On these works and the artists the Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea has made a DVD, directed by Meris Angioletti and Angelo Boriolo and with a script by Paola Capriolo.