lake como air to go? ‘100% authentic’ fresh air sells in a can

Not an april fools stunt; just fresh lake como air in a can

It’s not an April Fools’ stunt because there are cans of fresh Lake Como Air being sold. It’s an empty can, but it contains 400 ml of pure, ‘clean’ air from Lake Como. It also has nitrogen (78 percent), oxygen (21 percent), argon (0.93 percent), carbon dioxide (0.04 percent), neon (0.0018 percent), and a few more ingredients. Some might think they can open the can and breathe in the air, and it may not be impossible given the air quality in the city, but the Lake Como Air cans are created as a recent souvenir for both locals and tourists.

One catch is they’re not available online. People have to visit select stores around Como to acquire them because the idea is to draw visitors into the must-visit destinations in the area using the influence of the air in cans. ‘Only those who visit Lake Como can want to buy our souvenir. Memories are not bought but lived,’ as written on the Lake Como Air site. The shelf life of the souvenir is infinite, and once opened, owners can reuse the recyclable packaging of the the Lake Como Air cans as a pen holder, plant pot, or stationery container.

all images courtesy of Lake Como Air

Canned air begins with marcel duchamp’s ‘empty’ ampoule

It’s not the first time that canned fresh air is treated as a souvenir. This playful ploy by the Como-based agency ItalyComunica follows in the footsteps of Fattrol’s canned air, which is also offered as air from Rome, Athens, London, California, Beijing, Patagonia, Wroclaw, Norway, and more. There’s even canned ‘fresh Icelandic mountain air’ sold as a souvenir for tourists visiting the island nation. Before these, the Air of Naples came through, which was invented by Gennaro Ciaravolo. He designed it by reusing the empty cans provided by US troops after World War II. But it was in 1970 that these cans started to be sold when his grandson, Claudio Ciaravolo, produced the Air of Naples in cans and retailed it outside of the Venice Biennale in 1972. He offered it in two versions: one with and one without smog.

After this, he went out and did the same for Fried Air (Milan), the FOG (London), the Aria Pacis (Paris), and Aria Santa (Rome). But all of these air-in-cans products may owe parts of their beginnings to Marcel Duchamp, who in 1919 created ‘50 cc of Paris Air.’ He bought an empty ampoule from a pharmacist in Paris and gave it to his friend and patron, Walter C. Arensberg, as a souvenir. It’s a vial with nothing in it but the ‘air of Paris.’ As written in Centre Pompidou’s report on the ampoule, the French painter and sculptor said, ‘I thought of a gift for Arensberg, who already possessed everything that fortune allows one to acquire: so I brought him a vial of Paris air.’

it’s an empty can, but it contains 400 ml of pure, ‘clean’ air from Lake Como

Fresh lake como air in cans for 9.90 EUROS

And perhaps it’s this sense of ability to acquire something that can’t be possessed or seen that attaches a ‘sentimental’ value to the Lake Como air cans and the rest. As the saying goes, it’s the thought that counts, and it’s also a renaissance of its own, the reform of refrigerator magnets and keychains. The Lake Como Air team puts it this way: ‘Our idea is that, for example, a Californian tourist visiting Lake Como has an object that contains the air of one of the most iconic and visited places in the world, such as Lake Como, on his desk in Los Angeles.’ Yes, it’s 9.90 EUR, but no, it’s not always a ripoff or scam because for some, the Lake Como air cans are a way to treasure and rehash their trip, or let the person they’re giving them know that they’ve thought of them during their stay in the city.

the Lake Como Air cans has nitrogen (78 percent), oxygen (21 percent), argon (0.93 percent) and more