Terra Infecta
A Moving Border
Rights of Future Generations
Arrivederci ad Arborea
EXHIBITIONS
Vulnerable Beings
Medical Borders
PEDAGOGY
Al Masha + Difficult Heritage
The Interior Inside Out
CRITICISM
andrea.bagnato
[at] me.com
Terra Infecta
A Moving Border
Rights of Future Generations
Arrivederci ad Arborea
EXHIBITIONS
Vulnerable Beings
Medical Borders
PEDAGOGY
Al Masha + Difficult Heritage
The Interior Inside Out
CRITICISM
andrea.bagnato
[at] me.com
MACK Books, October 2025
978-1-917651-24-0
12.5 x 18 cm, 304 pp.
Southern Italy is now a glamorous tourist destinations. Yet until recently, it was haunted by associations with disease and uncleanliness – on the basis of frequent epidemics and of its inhabitants’ alleged barbarity. In this narrative study, Andrea Bagnato shows how sanitation and its metaphors underpin the narrative of a pathological “south” opposed to a functional “north”, which persists in Italy as elsewhere.
The book charts the disappearance of Venetian wetlands, urban renewal in Naples and Matera, and protocols of containment in Milan, presenting a counter-history of the urban and rural landscapes of Italy. It is at once a critique of modern hygiene, and a collection of revelatory moments of community, healing, and resistance.
Terra Infecta is based on a long-term research project initiated in 2015, which has also resulted in lectures, workshops, articles, and exhibitions.
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