A bicycle path that, red like an artery, cuts through the countryside and directs towards the heart of Rome, what better way to crash against Castel Sant'Angelo and the Dome. An amateur cyclist who, in the desert of traffic, perhaps on a mid-summer morning, climbs a bridge and escapes the heat, loneliness, problems, chasing a lightness so unearthly. Two bicycle couriers at an urban junction, here the road, there the railway, and the yellow backpack so bulky and not very aerodynamic on their shoulders, who knows if this time it's full or empty, a delivery or a pickup, a hot pizza or a cold salad, a school book or a declaration of love.

Three of the sixteen photographs by Nico Marziali in the exhibition "Looking at the Margins" with works also by Davide Di Gianni, Mohamed Keita and Filippo Trojano, curated by Simona Filippini, at the Casa dei Giovani / Cassandra Association, in Via del Podismo, in Rome (free entry, hours to be consulted on www.cassandra-ita.com, open until July 6, finissage on July 4 at 9 pm). The margins are those of the city, in this case the eternal one. Peripheries, suburbs, surroundings. Ring roads, connections, terminals. Corners, districts, dormitories. Parks, gardens, warehouses. When gentrification transforms a working-class neighborhood into a trendy or luxury one, those who cannot afford to stay are forced to move away, even from everything that is education, instruction, literature, even poetry. The exhibition is part of the activities that the Municipality of Rome wanted to propose in its less central neighborhoods: including the XV Municipality, which stretches from Ponte Milvio to Cesano.

And it is in this context that the four photographers explored Rome and its Roman spirit, Romans and new Romans. Davide Di Gianni in Veio Park, along the Via Francigena, and the choice of black and white suspends time, yesterday, today, always, who knows. Mohamed Keita travels in color, capturing fleeting moments, exemplary a Fiat 500 - the one from back then - half in the light and half in the shadow, or the snout of that little dog peeking from the basket of another bicycle. Filippo Trojano photographs with a Polaroid hanging in the viewfinder of a camera around his neck, the result is an overturned photo, or the reverse of a photo, or the reverse of reality, but what reality are we talking about, how many realities appear unreal to us. And Nico Marziali, the author of photos of urban cyclists on bicycles, followed the stretch of railway that from Piazzale Flaminio arrives, rickety and exhausted, to Civita Castellana.

"It is a fundamental exercise, in photography, to carefully 'look at the margins'" - writes Simona Filippini in introducing the exhibition -. "Since one of the main aspects of photographic language lies in choosing a part of reality, carefully observing the boundaries that delimit what one wants from what one discards is everything, or almost. These boundaries correspond to the feeling experienced in the act of photographing. Like a sense of completeness and intimate satisfaction".

"Looking at the Margins" is part of the cultural event "At the End of the City - Explorations", conceived by Fernanda Pessolano for Ti con Zero ETS, promoted by Roma Capitale - Culture Department, winner of the public notice Artes et Iubilaeum - 2025, funded by the European Union Next Generation.