Didactic label signed and numbered in black ink on the verso

Book numbered and signed in black ink on the frontispiece

To understand these photographs, one must visualise one of the most unusual set-ups ever conceived. Vitali took the shots with his 20x25 view camera from a very tall tripod, positioned in one instance facing the beach and in the other facing the sea. He is not, however, interested in the landscape but in those who inhabit it: having returned from abroad and settled in Lucca, he himself states that he wishes to use his images to understand who the Italians were during that historical period marked by Berlusconi’s electoral victory. Although created using different technical and expressive means, this work evokes the spirit of reportage but shifts it towards the anthropological: instead of approaching his subjects to create a narrative, he keeps them at a safe distance and freezes their stories in a single image; instead of sharing their lived experience, he observes their dynamics with the gaze of an entomologist. In the meticulously crafted and exquisite prints – here in reduced size, one of which is accompanied by a volume reproducing it – the colours take on delicate shades, and the great depth of field, which allows every plane to be in focus, enables the observer to follow the details of the scenes: as in the paintings of Bruegel the Elder, the postures of the individuals invite us to imagine stories, and the details (the towels on the sand, the parked bicycles, the flags fluttering in the wind, the curious elegance of the rubbish bins) fill the scene with a marvellous balance.