We Do Not Thirst After Scenography

The church of Riola di Vergato, in the Bologna area, is the only Italian work by Alvar Aalto, one of the great masters of modernist architecture. Unexplainably, the church remained virtually unknown to the public for forty years, and even many architecture insiders ignored its existence. The documentary rediscovers this unique project and tells the interesting story that lead to its construction, through the investigations of a little boy fascinated by the building, which was commissioned and planned in 1965, but only completed and unveiled thirteen years later, on June 17, 1978. Interviews with architects, key figures and residents piece together the story set off by Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro, who first recognised in the architectural language of the Finnish master the ability to embody the new orientation taken by the Second Vatican Council in terms of religious architecture, encapsulated in the statement: we do not thirst after scenography!