Dentro Favignana

Oltre il buio della galleria, poco più alta di me e scanalata dai segni delle mannare, la luce è fioca, di una profonda tonalità aranciata. Che colore singolare: è pieno mattino e davanti agli occhi ho la luce del tramonto. Sono all’ interno di una delle centinaia di cave di tufo di Favignana (ne sono state mappate 187). Enormi camere scavate a mano nella calcarenite sono divise da pilastri che di solito sono fatti di pietra più dura o meno pregiata. A volte invece sono di pietra di buona qualità, ma bisognava comunque lasciarli per garantire la stabilità dei cunicoli.

Out of the crowd in Mykonos for beautiful landscape photos

Out of the crowd in Mykonos for beautiful landscape photos! If you’d like to escape from the glamour and the crowd of Mykonos town and its most famous beaches, head to the northern point of the island, to the Armenistis lighthouse. Armenistis Lighthouse It’s a 6 km walk from Mykonos town. Just less than one hour walk if you really want to be out of the crowd in Mykonos! If you rented a car or a scooter you can also drive, the road is paved until about 300 meters from the lighthouse. The last part is unpaved but still easily

The Magic Of Ohrid: 7 Outstanding Photo Opportunities

If the name Ohrid sounds new to you, then you are probably missing one of the many hidden gems of Europe! Ohrid: the town and the lake Ohrid is the name of a beautiful lake, one of the oldest and deepest lakes in Europe. And Ohrid is the name of the city that lies on the shore of this lake. We are in Northern Macedonia. Bits of history Ohrid is a town of about 40.000 and it’s a very old city. In middle age, it was the middle-point of great cultural transformations. The Ohrid Literary School was established here in

5 of the most beautiful wooden churches of Maramures, Romania

A lot of green around, many hills and a church made completely of wood.  You could think you’re in Norway, but no! You’re much more south: Maramures is a poor, agricultural region of Northern Romania, stretched between the mountains and the Ukrainian border. Maramures Maramures is an interesting area: it still holds ancient rural habits and has beautiful landscapes. In one of its tiny villages, Viseu de Sus, starts its way Mocănița. It’s a narrow-gauge railway built in 1932 and still operational with steam and diesel locomotives to transport wood from uphill to the plant down in the valley. The railroad

Zadar psychedelic sunsets

When the sun goes down in Zadar, the earth and sky melt together at the horizon. They share the same colours in a fantastic psychedelic show. Alfred Hitchcock, who was a connoisseur, used to say that from Zadar’s waterfront one can enjoy the most beautiful sunset of the world. But since the times of Mr Hitchcock, many things changed, not only in the field of movies. Greetings to the sun The new waterfront of the Dalmatian city is a great place for a stroll with a view. But not only. It also hosts a couple of modern art structures. Made

La (sostenibile) leggerezza del ferro

È un fantasma ad accoglierci. Una forma evanescente, che sembra appena abbozzata. I raggi del sole che cala la attraversano senza difficoltà. Eppure è solida, solida come il ferro di cui è fatta. E’ un fantasma ma non sembra minaccioso; è lì per custodire la chiesa, che già si intravede. E’ una chiesa della stessa materia del fantasma: tonnellate metalliche attraversate dalla luce radente del tramonto. La (sostenibile) leggerezza del ferro. Si distinguono agevolmente le colonne, i capitelli, le capriate del tetto. E si distingue perfettamente il cielo, dietro. Il fantasma mi lascia passare senza difficoltà. Non c’è neanche bisogno

Everyday life of a plain West Ukrainian village

Solotvyno is just a West Ukrainian village, on the banks of the river Tisza, right at the border with Romania. Perfect location to investigate plain Western Ukrainian lifestyle, I thought, and that’s why I visited it. A bridge in the outskirts of the village links the two banks of the Tisza river, thus connecting Ukraine with Romania. This was my entry point to the country. Solotvyno, where is it? The village is on the edge of history and geography one could say. But in Central Europe what appears isn’t always the whole of the image. There are hidden streams of

The white zone – 2014

I decided to follow Julieanne Kost’s advice and started to create slideshows of my best pictures for every year; Ms Kost calls it The White Zone, and I do follow! My first attempt regards 2014 when I started again photographing regularly after some years mostly spent watching our newborn daughter growing up. Some of the photos are just family snaps, but I like to have them together with the others. Hope you like the slideshow!

Jugonostalgija

The country that once was called “Yugoslavia” disappeared from the maps at the end of last century and after a cruel war. Outside the former Yugoslavian area, nothing of it remains on maps, just a trace on the history texts. But the “Made in Yugoslavia” Zastavas still run the roads of the new countries that once were federate republics of Yugoslavia, with new plates and old spare parts. And the word “Yugoslavia” is still an evident presence in many houses of Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro. They call it Jugonostalgija….

The special history and amazing beauty of Palmanova

Located in Northeastern Italy, Palmanova, the star-shaped town, is a unique destination. A great example of a Renaissance-era planned town meant to be used as a living area but also as a fortress and stronghold. The star-shaped town Palmanova has the shape of a star. Right in its middle, there is a huge square, an enormous empty space that was once used for military musters. The town was built, following the ideals of utopia, at the end of the XVI century by the Republic of Venice. It was the last outpost before the border with the Austrian empire. Unfortunately, no

Discover the old times charm of Marzamemi

Marzamemi, a fishermen’s village Marzamemi is a beautiful ancient tuna fishing village in Sicily, not far from Siracusa. It was built during the Arab domination of Sicily. The name itself “Marzamemi” has an Arab root. “Marsa” in Arab means “harbour”. Also, the tuna fishery dates back to Arab domination. On the other side, the fishermen’s houses were built in the 17° century. This is the time when the whole area was sold to the prince of Villadorata, who built new houses and structures to empower the fishing activity. The story Fishing tunas and other large fishes was a profitable enterprise

Deep South and close to Africa

The island knows no other human voices, no other footprints. On the Offshore Lights, you can live any story you want to tell yourself, and no one will say you’re wrong: not the seagulls, not the prisms, not the wind. (M.L. Stedman) Down, down, down to the extreme tip of Sicily until there is no path anymore. Only a tiny beach and a rocky shoreline. But you can walk further towards the South, along a boulders walkway that surfaces only with the low tide. We are deep South and close to Africa. Once at the end of the walkway, we

Outstanding Cappadocia: unique wonders and attractive landscapes

Finally, after hundreds of kilometres of steppe, you’ll get to a barren, uninhabited tuff rock. It might sound like an introduction to hell and yet it’s just the prologue to the wonders of Cappadocia. A mix of geological and human uniqueness ignites the imagination and sparks delight. A diagrammatic landscape, all peaks and slopes, pockmarked by water, wind and humans, who for centuries have carved the tuff to create dwellings, shelters, churches. Shapes and colours always change, depending on the position of the sun and the weather conditions. Who knows what the landscape looked like when the first, amazed Western

The fascinating wonders of the European Spoon River

Nested among high peaks and green valleys in Northern Romania, near the Ukrainian border, lies the tiny village of Săpânța An ordinary village with an extraordinary cemetery It’s an ordinary village, close to the river, with the main road passing through. Like every ordinary village, also Săpânța has a cemetery.  But it’s not an ordinary one. Think of it as the European Spoon River.  In Săpânța the whole scene looks much different than a usual cemetery. Under wooden crosses painted in a characteristic bright blue, the departed past life is engraved with a humorous epitaph, a brief but poetically sincere story

Africa hidden secrets: the Datooga of Tanzania

It isn’t easy to get in touch with the Datooga, a pastoralist Nilotic population of Tanzania. Their huts are made of a framework of branches covered in mud with thatched roofs. And they are well camouflaged with the surrounding savannah. As a result. if you don’t know where they are located, you must follow some tracks to find the village. That is to say that Datooga people blend perfectly in with their environment: their dress is the color of the reddish-brown soil. Only on closer inspection, they appear more colorful: patched leather dresses, beadwork, and brass bracelets and necklaces. Origins The origins of Datooga

Trabocchi: the tailspin of the giant spiders jetting on the sea

At the extreme point of the right-hand promontory, on a bank of rocks the Trabocco stretched, a strange fishing machine, constructed entirely of beams and planks, like a colossal spider-web. (Gabriele D’Annunzio, The Triumph of Death) A Trabucco is an old fishing machine. It’s common along the Southeastern coast of Italy, namely in Abruzzo and in Puglia. A platform jutting out into the sea and anchored to the coastline by massive logs. From the platform hang out nets and all the structures needed to sustain it. A literary fascination The Italian writer Gabriele D’ Annunzio, who lived nearby, wrote some

In a dark and awesome night…Nusco fascinating bonfires

This is the story of a dark night. The darkest night of the year. At least, this is what they say in Southern Italy. A night light up by fascinating bonfires. We are in Nusco, in Campania, province of Avellino, the green and hilly Irpinia. Nusco Nusco sits on a windy hilltop at almost a thousand meters in height. With the morning light, from here you get a wonderful view over the valley of the Ofanto River and the Southern Apennines mountains. During a January night, it’s freezing cold, but it’s well worth a visit. And now it’s the night of

A visit to the floating section of Cesenatico Museum

A visit to the floating section of Cesenatico Museum is absolutely a must if you happen to be in the area. Multicoloured sails greet the visitors of Cesenatico every day between Easter and September. A rainbow show that cannot be missed even from the nearby main road or if you’re travelling by train. The floating museum Dozens of traditional sailboats stretch along the old canal designed by Leonardo da Vinci. The wooden hulls are painted in bright colours. The typical details such as the “eyes” on the bow are more or less stylized. Red sails, or ochre or orange. And

5 wonderful things to see in Krakow and around

Krakow is a beautiful city. If you are either a street photographer or an urban one, you’ll find here plenty of interesting subjects for your lenses. Walk around the Planty, get lost in the narrow streets of the old town. Visit the many beauties and monuments of the city. Pay a visit to the museum to admire a real Leonardo’s masterpiece like Lady with an Ermine. You have countless possibilities in Krakow. But if you are on a run and just want to see the most appalling photographic subjects, here are my tips for you. 5 wonderful things to see in Krakow