Field Notes 3 — Watermarks

This 323-page field guide is the third in our Field Notes series: a slow, curious exploration of Turin, developed in collaboration with Incolto and shaped by the city’s rivers.

For this edition, we gave ourselves one simple rule: follow a path already written into the city, and let it choose for us. We chose the Po and the Dora — two waterways crossing very different Turins, from polished riverbanks to leftover spaces, rowing clubs, parks, neighbourhoods and traces of industry.

Working with Incolto, we approached the city through walking, observation and encounters, allowing the route itself to become a method of research.

Getting lost, but on purpose became our way of moving through Turin: following detours, stopping when something caught our attention, talking to people along the way and letting one discovery lead to the next.

This Field Notes is not a guide to Turin’s landmarks. It is a field diary of what happens in between: bridges, benches, bars, dogs, fishermen, rowers, improvised gardens, summer rituals, unexpected shortcuts and the people who give these places meaning.

Through photography, conversations, observations and fragments, this edition uses the rivers as a way of reading the city.

Created by Incolto (Giuseppe Defilippis, Lorenzo Zappia and Stefano Zappia) and Marta Giacosa, and edited by The Place Bureau.