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BEHIND THE SHOT

— The stories behind locations and shooting  —

- ROMANTIC INSIDE -

TOSCANA

2020

- ROMANTIC INSIDE -

TOSCANA
2020

In my “Italian abandonment tour August 2020” I was passing from central Italy. In the day I had driven a lot through the many hills that cross the region and I was still decided to be able to reach this place at least just before sunset, to optimize the day to the maximum and to be able to move at night to a new destination without having to wait for the next dawn to enter.

Comforted by the fact of knowing that the location had very little to photograph, and therefore did not need a long stay, I decided more than ever to drive for an hour in a hurry through the winding streets that meandered on the territory to get there as soon as possible.

The place in question is a manor house within a small abandoned village. There were rumors of a possible guardian who was wandering around to check that no unwanted curious adventured inside the small village. Village that had on its perimeter gates and improvised grates near the few accesses to the streets and the openings of the houses that overlooked the outer perimeter.

I parked the car relatively far from the entrance of the only dirt path that led to the village, I did not want to alert any guardians who had passed in that area, whereas I was isolated on a provincial road with no apparent reason to stop. Better to avoid hypothetical correlations between my car and intrusions.

I started at a decisive pace towards the village climbing the grassy wild path that led to the top of the hill. In the vicinity of a hut at the edge of the path, a curious and very annoying thing happened to me. In my career as an explorer I am often in contact, especially in the hot months, with mosquitoes or other types of insects.

But this time I was assaulted by a swarm of horseflies. Initially these insects just hovered around me. Immediately I noticed the difference with normal flies: the horseflies are fierce insects that are extremely difficult to chase, even when you lean on the uncovered parts to suck your blood. My hands moving did not intimidate them in the slightest and they attached to me as if I were covered with sticky honey. I had long trousers, but for the head I decided to raise the shirt up to the nape; it didn’t help much so I started to run towards the village hoping to distance them.

Fortunately for me after a minute of strong race they abandoned me and I arrived out of brieth to the village. High walls and buildings revolved around the circular village and high barriers were actually placed in front of the gates. The high perimeter walls also had windows with gratings or placed at great heights that could not be reached. Trying to climb over a series of walls and gates not too high on the perimeter, I managed to walk a kind of spiral path that avoided some blocks and allowed me to get to the center of the group of houses.

Being late, I didn’t waste too much time snooping but I rushed to look for the room I had found on the web. There was only one house, which was actually a set of several apartments joined laterally and on several floors that stood out slightly compared to the other houses. I found what I was looking for.
If I had passed by this village from outside without knowing about this room I probably wouldn’t have ventured the slightest waste of time as from outside it was all very anonymous.

But this is also the beauty of exploration, finding an unexpected surprise in places that do not promise anything interesting.

The fresco, peeled at the right point in small part to give that touch of decay to the scene, represented a landscape of the Romantic period. Nature was idealized and everyday life scenes were reproduced in the midst of landscapes that conveyed serenity and love for own land.

The title is inspired by this concept: I wanted to use a kind of pun to describe both a state of mind that can be felt inside yourself looking at the painting, and the location of a pictorial style inside a house.

I leaned the side window so that only a soft light of the imminent twilight could enter and slightly caress the fresco. I made my shots and walked towards the car, the small set of houses presented no other surprise.

And the horseflies were still waiting for me. They came to shake me from my photographic satisfaction and chased me even when I decided to run.

This time they did not give up. The mere fact of not finding the car keys immediately turned out to be a calvary. Find out, I rushed in with some intruder, who, once I left, I quickly pulled out the window of the moving car.

Explorers: joys and sorrows.

Nel mio tour “abbandono italiano Agosto 2020” ero di passaggio dal centro Italia. In giornata avevo guidato molto attraverso le numerose colline che attraversano la regione ed ero comunque deciso di riuscire a raggiungere anche questo luogo almeno poco prima del tramonto, per ottimizzare la giornata al massimo e poter spostarmi di notte verso una nuova meta senza dover attendere l’alba sucessiva per entrare.
 
Confortato dal fatto di sapere che la location aveva ben poco da fotografare e che quindi non necessitava di una permanenza lunga decisi più che mai a guidare per un’ora in tutta fretta attraverso le strade sinuose che serpenteggiavano sul territorio per arrivare il prima possibile.
 
Il luogo in questione è una casa padronale all’interno di un piccolo borgo abbandonato. Si vociferava di un probabile custode che si aggirava nei dintorni per controllare che nessun curioso indesiderato si avventurasse all’interno del piccolo borgo. Borgo che aveva sul suo perimetro cancelli e grate improvvisate in prossimità dei pochi accessi alle vie e delle aperture delle abitazioni che davano sul perimetro esterno.
 
Parcheggiai l’auto relativamente lontana dall’imboccatura dell’unico sentiero sterrato che conduceva al borgo, non volevo allertare eventuali guardiani che fossero passati in quella zona, considerando che ero isolato su una strada provinciale senza nessun motivo apparente per fermarmi. Meglio evitare ipotetiche correlazioni fra la mia auto e intrusioni.
 
Mi avviai a passo deciso verso il borgo salendo l’erboso sentiero selvaggio che portava alla sommità della collina. In prossimità di una casupola a bordo sentiero mi successe una cosa curiosa e molto fastidiosa. Nella mia carriera di esploratore sono spesso a contatto, soprattutto nei mesi caldi, con zanzare o altri tipi di insetti.
Ma questa volta sono stato assalito da un nugolo di tafani. Inizialmente questi insetti si limitavano a ronzarmi intorno. Subito colsi la differenza con normali mosche: i tafani sono insetti agguerriti che sono estremamente ostici da cacciare, anche quando ti si appoggiano alle parti scoperte per succhiarti il sangue. Il mio sbracciare non li intimidiva minimamente e mi si attaccavano quasi fossi ricoperto di miele appiccicoso. Avevo i pantaloni lunghi, ma per la testa decisi di alzarmi la maglietta fino alla nuca; non serviva a molto così iniziai a correre verso il borgo sperando di distanziarli.
 
Per mia fortuna dopo un minuto di corsa forte mi abbandonarono ed arrivai col fiatone al borgo. Alti muri ed edifici giravano attorno al borgo circolare ed effettivamente alti sbarramenti erano stati messi davanti ai varchi. Gli alti muri perimetrali avevano anche finestre con grate o poste a grandi altezze da non essere raggiungibili. Provando a scavalcare una serie di muretti e cancelli non troppo alti del perimetro, riuscii a percorrere una sorta di percorso a spirale che evitava alcuni blocchi e mi permise di arrivare al centro del gruppo di case.
 
Essendo tardi, non persi troppo tempo a curiosare ma mi fiondai a cercare la stanza che avevo trovato sul web. C’ era un’ unica casa, che in realtà era un insieme di più appartamenti uniti lateralmente e su più piani che spiccava leggermente rispetto alle altre case. Trovai quello che stavo cercando.
Se fossi passato da questo borgo da fuori senza sapere di questa stanza probabilmente non avrei azzardato la minima perdita di tempo poichè da fuori era tutto molto anonimo.
 
Ma questo è anche il bello delle esplorazioni, trovare un’inaspettata sorpresa in luoghi che non promettono nulla di interessante.
 
L’affresco, scrostato al punto giusto in minima parte per dare quel tocco di decay alla scena, rappresentava un paesaggio del periodo Romantico. La natura era idealizzata e venivano riprodotte scene di vita quotidiane in mezzo a paesaggi che trasmettevano serenità e amore per la propria terra.
 
Il titolo è ispirato a questo concetto: volevo usare una specie di gioco di parole per descrivere sia uno stato d’animo che si può provare interiormente guardando il dipinto, sia l’ubicazione di uno stile pittorico all’interno di una casa.
 
Appoggiai la finestra laterale in modo che solo una tenue luce del crepuscolo imminente potesse entrare ed accarezzare leggermente l’affresco. Realizzai i mei scatti e mi avviai verso l’auto, il piccolo insieme di case non presentava nessun altra sorpresa.
 
E i tafani erano ancora lì ad attendermi. Arrivati a scuotermi dalla mia soddisfazione fotografica mi inseguirono anche quando decisi di correre.
 
Questa volta non mollavano. Il solo fatto di non trovare subito le chiavi dell’auto si rivelava un calvario. Trovate, mi fiondai dentro assieme a qualche intrusa che una volta partito feci rapidamente uscire dal finestrino dell’auto in corsa.
 
Esploratori: gioie e dolori.

In my “Italian abandonment tour August 2020” I was passing from central Italy. In the day I had driven a lot through the many hills that cross the region and I was still decided to be able to reach this place at least just before sunset, to optimize the day to the maximum and to be able to move at night to a new destination without having to wait for the next dawn to enter.

Comforted by the fact of knowing that the location had very little to photograph, and therefore did not need a long stay, I decided more than ever to drive for an hour in a hurry through the winding streets that meandered on the territory to get there as soon as possible.

The place in question is a manor house within a small abandoned village. There were rumors of a possible guardian who was wandering around to check that no unwanted curious adventured inside the small village. Village that had on its perimeter gates and improvised grates near the few accesses to the streets and the openings of the houses that overlooked the outer perimeter.

I parked the car relatively far from the entrance of the only dirt path that led to the village, I did not want to alert any guardians who had passed in that area, whereas I was isolated on a provincial road with no apparent reason to stop. Better to avoid hypothetical correlations between my car and intrusions.

I started at a decisive pace towards the village climbing the grassy wild path that led to the top of the hill. In the vicinity of a hut at the edge of the path, a curious and very annoying thing happened to me. In my career as an explorer I am often in contact, especially in the hot months, with mosquitoes or other types of insects.

But this time I was assaulted by a swarm of horseflies. Initially these insects just hovered around me. Immediately I noticed the difference with normal flies: the horseflies are fierce insects that are extremely difficult to chase, even when you lean on the uncovered parts to suck your blood. My hands moving did not intimidate them in the slightest and they attached to me as if I were covered with sticky honey. I had long trousers, but for the head I decided to raise the shirt up to the nape; it didn’t help much so I started to run towards the village hoping to distance them.

Fortunately for me after a minute of strong race they abandoned me and I arrived out of brieth to the village. High walls and buildings revolved around the circular village and high barriers were actually placed in front of the gates. The high perimeter walls also had windows with gratings or placed at great heights that could not be reached. Trying to climb over a series of walls and gates not too high on the perimeter, I managed to walk a kind of spiral path that avoided some blocks and allowed me to get to the center of the group of houses.

Being late, I didn’t waste too much time snooping but I rushed to look for the room I had found on the web. There was only one house, which was actually a set of several apartments joined laterally and on several floors that stood out slightly compared to the other houses. I found what I was looking for.
If I had passed by this village from outside without knowing about this room I probably wouldn’t have ventured the slightest waste of time as from outside it was all very anonymous.

But this is also the beauty of exploration, finding an unexpected surprise in places that do not promise anything interesting.

The fresco, peeled at the right point in small part to give that touch of decay to the scene, represented a landscape of the Romantic period. Nature was idealized and everyday life scenes were reproduced in the midst of landscapes that conveyed serenity and love for own land.

The title is inspired by this concept: I wanted to use a kind of pun to describe both a state of mind that can be felt inside yourself looking at the painting, and the location of a pictorial style inside a house.

I leaned the side window so that only a soft light of the imminent twilight could enter and slightly caress the fresco. I made my shots and walked towards the car, the small set of houses presented no other surprise.

And the horseflies were still waiting for me. They came to shake me from my photographic satisfaction and chased me even when I decided to run.

This time they did not give up. The mere fact of not finding the car keys immediately turned out to be a calvary. Find out, I rushed in with some intruder, who, once I left, I quickly pulled out the window of the moving car.

Explorers: joys and sorrows.

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