The tablecloths were presented on Saturday, October 5, 2024, in the garden of Casa Testori, where a celebration was held open to all members of Casa Nostra and La Benefica, to the residents of Novate Milanese, and to the public of Casa Testori.

The stories, generations, and people who came together thanks to “La tovaglia tutta attorno” found themselves part of a shared narrative, as well as of an artwork that will live on into the future. The two tablecloths were donated by the artist and Casa Testori to the Casa Nostra and La Benefica cooperatives, which will be able to organize new gatherings and celebrations like this one around and with these two pieces.

In the spring of 2024, Ilaria Turba met for the first time with the residents of Casa Nostra and La Benefica, two historic social housing organizations in the Novate Milanese area. Thanks to conversations, stories, and mutual exchanges, the artist – with the vital help of the housing cooperative tenants – envisioned and created the artworks currently on display in the room on the first floor of Casa Testori until December 21, 2024. These works also give the project its title: “La tovaglia tutta attorno” (“The Tablecloth All Around”).

During the creation of the project, Turba quite literally entered the courtyards and homes of the people of Novate to get to know them and let herself be known, within the shared spaces of their neighborhoods and apartment buildings. There, she collected archival materials, personally handed over by the people of Novate, and digitized them by scanning, promptly returning them to their rightful owners, who were sharing private and essential traces of their lives—items they understandably did not wish to part with.

Photographs, letters, postcards, and objects—once transformed into uniform images—were printed and used in a series of workshops led by the artist and hosted in the Casa Testori pavilion. Participants cut, combined, and reassembled the large volume of materials to create the decoration of the two tablecloths. Children, parents and grandparents, friends and neighbors, strangers who came to know each other—all joined Ilaria Turba in the creation of the artwork.