The photograph taken in that mountainous setting, which was particularly congenial to Peretti Griva, is rather classical. Here, one observes a process of the image breaking down within an almost Arcadian landscape characterised by a serene atmosphere, as evidenced by the close-up of the animal looking into the camera, whilst in the background the Matterhorn dominates austerely, surrounded by clouds, in all its grandeur. In Venice, like many others, the Piedmontese photographer challenged himself in the search for images that were neither predictable nor, worse still, rhetorical. It must be said that in the 1930s the city was not yet the focus of photographic imagery (for instance, prior to Fulvio Roiter’s *Venise à fleur d’eau* in 1954, there were no photographic books on the city), but the fact remains that this vertical composition, in which the gondolas stand out against the backdrop of the Church of the Salute, possesses a remarkable sense of composure.