Disappearing Italy in the Pictures of Iconic Photographer Gianni Berengo Gardin (13 photos)

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Category: photographs and photographic works, 0+, Italy

Gianni Berengo Gardin is one of the legendary Italian photographers. For over half a century, he has been capturing the beautiful moments of life in his homeland with his camera. He is a staunch supporter of traditional film photography, believing that only it can convey the fleeting moment of true life.

Gianni Berengo Gardin's works capture the fleeting charm of the urban landscapes of Rome and Venice.

His black-and-white photographs capture life itself, changeable and fickle. The photographer wistfully reminisces about the past, nostalgic for the times when his favorite cities weren't overcrowded with tourists, and quiet spots could be found to escape the hustle and bustle.

Women in Black with Geese. 1979

Today, 88-year-old Gardin has published over 250 books and continues to work. Camera in hand, he travels to his favorite places to find new subjects for his photo stories.

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Photo taken at the Palazzo dei Exposition in Rome, 1965

Speaking of modern times, Gardin always emphasizes that it's difficult to find the romance that characterized the Venetian streets of half a century ago.

"You'll never see a girl running through the deserted St. Mark's Square, scaring away the pigeons, or a couple kissing by the tall columns, all alone. You'll never take pictures like that again. Venice has completely changed from what it was. Now it's full of tourists," the artist notes.

Photo taken on the Lido Islands, Venice, 1958

Gardin was born in Genoa in 1930. He moved to Venice after the war, and for a long time photography was just a hobby for him. One day, his uncle gave him an illustrated edition of American photographers Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange, and Gianni realized the camera's limitless potential.

Photo taken in St. Mark's Square, Venice, 1959

Gardin is known for his diverse photographs: here he photographs patients in a psychiatric hospital, here he pictures young people dancing on the beach to the sounds of a gramophone, here he pictures workers at the Olivetti factory.

"People travel all over the world to photograph places like Hawaii. Afterward, they realize how beautiful it is," the photographer says.

Photo taken in La Spezia, 2005

Gianni Gardin is against any distortion of photographs; he compares photos processed in Photoshop to a special kind of fraud. He calls himself a true photographer and an apologist for a dying art. In the age of smartphones, he remains faithful to the traditional camera and time-tested shooting methods.