Italiae. Dagli Alinari ai maestri della fotografia contemporanea

Italy, seen from unusual perspectives and reinterpreted by the great masters of photography to depict a landscape that is both recognizable and ever-changing, is the subject of the exhibition created by Fratelli Alinari Spa and produced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, with the collaboration of the Alinari Foundation. It tells the story of a landscape that continues to amaze, from the nineteenth century to the present day, for its variety and for the unique encounter between nature and man: mountain ranges, coasts, waterways, lake basins, and hills form the scenery, serving as a counterpoint to traces of ancient and recent history and to the changing profiles of cities and inhabited centers.

The landscape becomes the face of a community, the image of a system in which anthropic and natural components, past and present, coexist in close relationship, and where it is precisely this intertwining of man and environment that opens up and recreates a sense of belonging. Through photography, it conveys the charm and diversity of Italy—its landscapes, creativity, and people.

A century and a half of history is captured in a composite anthology of shots, creating an ideal gallery of portraits and memories capable of witnessing the richness of the country and, at the same time, the extraordinary vitality of Italian photography. Through the works of over 75 photographers, an unusual visual narrative connects different authors, techniques, and subjects, with the explicit intention of fostering a dialogue between historical and contemporary photography, following formal assonances, thematic connections, or contrasts.

The exhibition is divided into three sections—Landscapes, Works, Faces—with Gian Paolo Barbieri participating in the Faces section. From Summer 2021, the exhibition will circulate through the offices of the diplomatic-consular network and the Italian Cultural Institutes, on a journey that will touch Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.