Pierluigi and I, Villa Sant'Angelo. Photograph: Simon R Jones/Culturpology

When I discovered that there is a website that lists the dates of birth of all politicians in Italy, I could not have imagined the moving experience that this would have led to.

Pierluigi Biondi was one of these politicians: mayor of the beautiful, small medieval town of Villa Sant’Angelo, perched on the foothills of the Apennines. He has been central in rebuilding the lives of the population after a catastrophic earthquake laid much of the town to rubble in 2009.
The welcome that Pierluigi and his colleagues extended to me and the team is hugely appreciated.  We also extend our thanks to the academics and students from the architecture faculty at the University of Bologna who showed us around the devastated ‘red zone’ and explained the human and material cost of the tragedy.