Putignano

This is the countryside near Putignano, in Apulia, Italy. I took this pictures near an old country house in the middle of a large cultivation of olive trees, during a trip in the Turi and Putignano zone of Apulia. There was a storm approaching and the sky was very dark, in contrast with the light colors of the house stones. In this zone there are very ancient olive trees, with contorted and incredibily beautiful trunks.

Narèt Landscape, Switzerland

This is the view from the top of Sambuco Valley, in Southern Switzerland, at 2301 meters (7578,74 feet) above the sea level. There is a small road ending here, and many paths and passes leading North to the Ticino Valley through the surrounding mountains. This area is very rich in artificial and natural alpine lakes, and the weather - despite small snow and ice leftover - was incredibly hot even for the summer season.

Sultanahmet, Istanbul

I visited Istanbul in January 2015. The entrance to the Blue Mosque was always crowded, so I decided to wake up early and visit the interiors in the first hours of the morning. I remember the feeling of an immense space between the ceiling, the walls and the floor. An immense, empty space, filled only by light and colors. The decorations are very simple, but the patterns placed together give an incredible effect of complexity and depth. Unlike the Christian cathedrals, trying to give to the prayer a space filled by images and emotions, but also a sense of intimacy between him and God, the Mosque leave the spirit free to rise in the light above human condition, highlighted by the sudden appearance of the blue color on the top of the dome. I was mesmerized by the infinte relationships between shapes and patterns, and I tried to capture this complex structure - looking almost in motion - with a wide angle lens.

Prepotto, Trieste

Prepotto is a small village north of Trieste, in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Its position is really near to Slovenia boundary, in a borderland named “Carso” where Italian and Slovenian cultures are mixed up. I shoot this photo near a so called “Osmiza”, a place where people can consume local product directly from the local farm. This is a very long-standing tradition and go back even to Charlemagne, in Middle Age, when Byzantines leaves this territories to the Frankish Empire and an ordinance allowed the winemakers to sell wine directly to people advising this activity with an ivy branch. Even today you can locate an open Osmiza by looking at the ivy branches hanged nearby, and you can also foresee if the Osmiza just opened observing if the branch is still green or withered.

Goreme Landscape

I take this shoot near the Goreme Open Air Museum, in Cappadocia (Turkey) during a very cloudy day of January 2015. The magic and strange geological conformation (the so called Fairy Chimneys) of the landscape and the human intervention during the centuries make this panorama fascinating and creepy at the same time. Every time I look again at this photo it remember me of the magical land of Mordor in Tolkien's novels.

Meteora, Rousanou Monastery

This is one of the most incredible places I have ever visited. I was traveling from Milan to Athens with my motorbike, and I stopped in Kalambaka where the mighty rock pinnacles were clearly visible. Then I started exploring the site looking for the bast places for taking photos. This picture was take from the highest part of the Meteora Road, and frame the Rousanou Monastery with a giant rock column in the background. The view from this place is something very difficult to take with the camera, and the emotions was very strong. Unforgettable.

Pompeii Road

This is one of the main road to the ancient city of Pompeii near Naples, in Italy. The stones are very eroded due to the time and centuries of wagon's passages. It always a strange sensation walk on the same stones of the ancient Romans, 2000 years ago. Here the life has suddenly stopped when, in the year 79 AD the city was mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.