Italy is a desire, 600 photos tell the landscape

In the beginning it was the landscape as an element of identity and we start from pink, from the sunset on the spires of the Duomo of Milan, from the nuance of the prints for a reproduction of St. Peter's Square, from the nuanced Florence of Leopoldo Alinari as he tells it in 1860 and we get to the acid colors of the ascetic boulders, in Zen levitation, created with artificial intelligence. In between 180 years of photography. This is how the exhibition L'Italia è un Desiderio welcomes you at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome. Photographs, Landscapes and Visions (1842-2022). 600 works from 1 June to 3 September, to tell the peninsula in all its complexity, the landscape, society and its transformations in almost two centuries, a revolution.
Thanks to the extraordinary Alinari and Mufoco collections "the Stables resume the tradition of dedicating an important exhibition to photography - explains to ANSA the president of the Scuderie Mario De Simoni - a tradition that returns to the great I dare say, because the theme is great and great are the institutions involved in the project or Alinari and the Museum of Contemporary Photography". The theme, he adds, "is that of the transformation of the Italian landscape from 1842 to 2022, 180 years of history that underline the value of this means of expression". A significant time span and coinciding with the history of the "wonderful invention", from the dawn to the present day. "It is a journey through time, a journey through Italy, a journey through the history of photography from the first daguerreotypes that are just three years after the birth of photography in 1839 and up to artificial intelligence". A story therefore, accompanied by large panels that explain the path in an exhaustive way: "After covid we must aim for projects of uniqueness and variety to attract the public" and the Stables have happily taken this path and will do so in the future. "The next appointment - adds the president - will be with the exhibition dedicated to the centenary of Italo Calvino. A literary exhibition, after those on Ovid and Dante that have had an extraordinary success".
Italy is a Desire. Photographs, Landscapes and Visions (1842-2022) is structured according to a chronological path with photographs from the Alinari Archives on the first floor of the Stables and on the second floor, in continuity, the works of the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Photography: from classicism to experimentation. "From the landscape of the Grand Tour we move on to the urban landscape, at first the human element is marginal also for technical reasons, because you could not portray moving subjects, then it becomes more and more central. From the 50s and 60s photography becomes a social investigation", says De Simoni.
A path that obviously does not claim to be exhaustive, but that brings to the attention of the public some of the most important Italian photographers such as Luigi Ghirri, Letizia Battaglia, Carla Cerati, Uliano Lucas, Federico Patellani, Mario Cresci, Franco Fontana, Mario Giacomelli, Gabriele Basilico, Giovanni Chiaramonte, Guido Guidi, Paola De Pietri, Fischli and Weiss, Francesco Jodice, Massimo Vitali, Thomas Struth. A path of great importance in which more photos are produced every minute through iPhone and social media than have ever been produced in the world, to regain possession of an art that is not only aesthetic but also a social battle and knowledge.