Adriatico

Everyone knows of the existence of an Adriatic Sea – but is there such a thing as an “Adriatic light”? This might be a key query when we look at the shots made by Riccardo Fregoso, initially on the coasts of Abruzzo and Molise, then shifting the horizon northward towards the Marches and Puglia. Adriatico is undoubtedly a voyage, a movement through places, the description of a trajectory in points, actually with many comings and goings along the eastern shores of Italy. At the same time, it is a sort of viaticum that can lead into a super-temporal, peaceful and enveloping condition, in which it is easy to linger at length, setting up camp or even getting lost.

From “Blinking Souvenirs” by Claudio Musso.

If you want to find Italy, in its contentious mash-up of ice creams, caramel-coated crunchies and roasts that do not set out to conquer, but simply to exist, you have to go to the center, to the heart of it, attempting to unearth the secrets of the plural regions. But if you want to find the “Estate Italiana” you have to go further, to reach their Adriatic space, concentrating the lens of your attention, as Riccardo has done with his work-voyage gathered in this volume, on the oxygen but also on our sacred, cursed and ferocious carbon dioxide. Only there will you hear a small radio, and Elvis will sing “Can’t help falling in love” for you – he sang it for me, one day, in Pescara, on an empty beach at dawn – and it will suggest the possibility of a new seduction, one that will bring the desire to remain there, just a little bit longer.

From “Estate Italiana” by Giulia Cavaliere.