FRAGILE FLORENCE
Florence, Italy, 2020
Italy is living a dramatic moment because of the COVID-19 disease. It seems like living isolated is the only chance of stopping the disease that every day is killing more and more people.
This is a reportage documenting the beauty of the city and the relationship with its inhabitants in a moment of fragility. With these pictures the intention is not to document the catastrophe but to learn something from it.
Florence is a city of tourism, known for the architectural and artistic beauties of the Rainaissance period and for its streets and alleys from the Medioeval morphology. It’s city centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1982.
It is a city that is always crowded, that doesn’t know the difference between high and low season, where the problems related to over tourism are vey often reason for social issues. A city in which residents can’t find home to rent because most of the dwellings are designated to short term touristic rents.
But at the same time it is a strong population that suffered from a flood in 1966 reacting with a strong sense of responsibility and of community belonging.
In this very fragile system the first to suffer were the tourism activity especially the smaller ones.
Gradually, following what was happening in Milan and Lombardy Region, since the third week of February tourists stopped coming, laws stopped cultural events and activities that gathered people, including all the schools and Universities, and finally, on Marc 11, all the shops and commercial activities, except pharmacies and supermarkets, were stopped.
It feels like living in a distopic scenario, something unreal. We are at home, working and waiting that this moment will pass. This experience will change our way of looking at life, at our freedom, at those we love.
The pictures were taken on March 6-8, when still the commercial activities were open and people still were not too scared nor obliged to stay home. Few remaining tourists were standing in front of the monuments taking selfies and squares hosted adequate number of people among which many residents that usually you never see, passing with their bike, walking with their dog, eating their lunch, taking home their shops within the majestic beauty of the Florentine city centre and monuments.
The result is that in these pictures everything seems normal, with an adequate proportion of people and the possibility of enjoying the public space and where the fruition of heritage is perfectly balanced.
Photographs are divided in 3 sections:
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Public spaces
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Monuments
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Small commercial activities
