BEHIND THE SHOT
— The stories behind locations and shooting —
- THE OLD ITALIAN PRIDE AWAKE-
An old building like many, anonymous from the outside and also wrapped in scaffolding. Anyone passing by would perceive it as a ruin that is not worth fixing up.
The area in central Italy where I am is hilly and the building is located in an anonymous street close to some houses.
My first visit was in 2020, by chance I had found some information on the net and I had decided to try it the first time I had passed in the area.
Access could be chosen between two methods, both only from the front of the building because the inaccessible back overlooked a high ditch. The first climbing on scaffolding remaining in plain sight for anyone who had passed by the road. The second passing between grates placed to protect a side courtyard, but extremely visible of the adjacent house.
I chose the second one because the grates were easy to move and it took a small amount of luck to hope that nobody would look out the window. You know, maybe even if the neighbors saw you, they’d not care, but still better to be careful and think about the worst-case scenario, even if the building in question was pretty dilapidated and I don’t think anyone would worry about any raiders.
At least I could get in quickly and easily.
As was customary at the time, the palace had an internal courtyard shared with several dwellings of working families serving the squire who lived in the main wing.
It was the power of curiosity that kept me from snooping around the rooms to find something good. In fact, all around there was a chaos of rubble and anonymous mouldy rooms, full of debris.
I missed analyzing the first floor, but the only access was a completely collapsed staircase. Fortunately someone, probably some other explorer, had improvised a staircase made of various objects that led to an access to the first floor.
And there she is!
The pearl in the midst of so much destruction, seemed to want to die in peace and hardly accessible.
But I was there for one last tribute to her beauty. On the 4 walls stood frescoes of idealized classic landscapes and on two front walls, opposite sides, were immortalized representations of muses of art and music, perhaps it was Minerva goddess of music.
The room, to my taste, had the perfect mix of beauty and decadence. The half-collapsed ceiling had the charm of a scar on the bodies of living men, and a stack of old fixtures was dusted on one side.
In 2021, year of this photo, I went back in August on a sunny day. I wanted to better photograph the whole room as I bought my new ultra-wide-angle lens that year.
This time the low sun could penetrate from the side openings, going to warm the room. I was witnessing the poetic metaphor of a spotlight on the last act of a beauty overcome by time.
An old building like many, anonymous from the outside and also wrapped in scaffolding. Anyone passing by would perceive it as a ruin that is not worth fixing up.
The area in central Italy where I am is hilly and the building is located in an anonymous street close to some houses.
My first visit was in 2020, by chance I had found some information on the net and I had decided to try it the first time I had passed in the area.
Access could be chosen between two methods, both only from the front of the building because the inaccessible back overlooked a high ditch. The first climbing on scaffolding remaining in plain sight for anyone who had passed by the road. The second passing between grates placed to protect a side courtyard, but extremely visible of the adjacent house.
I chose the second one because the grates were easy to move and it took a small amount of luck to hope that nobody would look out the window. You know, maybe even if the neighbors saw you, they’d not care, but still better to be careful and think about the worst-case scenario, even if the building in question was pretty dilapidated and I don’t think anyone would worry about any raiders.
At least I could get in quickly and easily.
As was customary at the time, the palace had an internal courtyard shared with several dwellings of working families serving the squire who lived in the main wing.
It was the power of curiosity that kept me from snooping around the rooms to find something good. In fact, all around there was a chaos of rubble and anonymous mouldy rooms, full of debris.
I missed analyzing the first floor, but the only access was a completely collapsed staircase. Fortunately someone, probably some other explorer, had improvised a staircase made of various objects that led to an access to the first floor.
And there she is!
The pearl in the midst of so much destruction, seemed to want to die in peace and hardly accessible.
But I was there for one last tribute to her beauty. On the 4 walls stood frescoes of idealized classic landscapes and on two front walls, opposite sides, were immortalized representations of muses of art and music, perhaps it was Minerva goddess of music.
The room, to my taste, had the perfect mix of beauty and decadence. The half-collapsed ceiling had the charm of a scar on the bodies of living men, and a stack of old fixtures was dusted on one side.
In 2021, year of this photo, I went back in August on a sunny day. I wanted to better photograph the whole room as I bought my new ultra-wide-angle lens that year.
This time the low sun could penetrate from the side openings, going to warm the room. I was witnessing the poetic metaphor of a spotlight on the last act of a beauty overcome by time.
Parete opposta, Opposite wall
2021
Fresco detail, 2021
Fresco detail, 2021
“Minerva”, 202o version
“Euterpe”, 2020 version
“Euterpe”, 2020 variant