Parallelo zero: the reportage bank

Profession Reporter: Outdoor and Adventure Photography - With Sergio Ramazzotti

2012-03-09

Adventure photography is a cross-sectional art that needs an extraordinary capability to adapt, both professionally and personally, to an endless series of situations. First of all, it is vital to simply learn how to travel. Which means dealing with different people of all cultures and always bring the best out of them. And at the same time being able to travel with every possible mean of transportation through often uncharted territories exploiting all their photographic potential. It is necessary to study and train a lot, to know and respect foreign countries and cultures, putting a great deal of physical effort into the building process of the story. This workshop will teach you how to move in harmony through unexpected and unknown environments, while mastering photographic techniques useful in any situation and learning every other trick to shoot a great outdoor story.

Next appointment to be held in Milan on March 10/11 - Cost is 300 Euros per person. Workshop suitable for everybody. Lessons will be in italian. Info and reservation: workshop@parallelozero.com - Tel. 02.89281630

Amnesty International - France - Palestine:The water war

2012-02-07

Motorrad - Germany - Harleys of Cuba

2012-02-05

PHOTOEXHIBITION - THE LIQUID STAGE: STORIES OF MEN AND WATER - MILAN - BIT - FEBRUARY 16th/19th 2012

2012-02-03

After the successful opening at Palazzo delle Esposizioni during the "Festival della Letteratura di Viaggio" held in Rome during last October, our collective photoexhibition about men and water, curated by Gianmarco Maraviglia, will be displayed in Milan during the BIT, the International Tourism Exchange, from February 16th to 19th in the World section, stand F12. Special appointment on Saturday 18th with some of the photographers of our agency for a free portfolio reading! All the photographers that would like to have their work reviewed can come directly to the photoexhibition venue from 10.30 to 13.30 that day. And to promote professional travel photography, Parallelozero is launching 3 new workshops dedicated to outdoor photoreportage to be held in Milan on March and April in our agency's premises. More info on: www.parallelozero.com/workshops.php

Italy - The Hunters of Calabria

2012-02-02

On December 3rd, 2011 a special unit of Carabinieri raided a secret bunker discovering Casalesi clan´s superboss Michele Zagaria, on the run for sixteen years. He was hiding in a sophisticated hideout. The discovery shed light on a new bunker culture: no more improvised 60´s style bunkers but complex facilities designed to welcome and protect criminal bosses. Vibo Valentia, Calabria, is the headquarter of the Hunters: a special branch of Carabinieri trained to seek out bunkers and pinpoint fugitives or kidnapped people. Due to the difficult rocky soil of the Aspromonte massif, the Ndrangheta has the largest number of fugitives in Italy. The Hunters are the only unit properly trained to discover and raid secret bunkers built underneath secret entrances camouflaged on walls, furnaces, floors and troughs.

Moldova - White orphans of Moldova

2012-01-31

In Moldova one citizen out of 4 lives abroad to work. What happens to their children then? Some of these young kids are forced to live in abandonment. Grandparents, relatives or neighbors look after them. Their parents leave in order to find a job and send money back home, in a relatively young nation where unemployment is a massive plague and the only way for adults to survive is to migrate. The number of these abandoned kids is not officially estimated yet, however rumor has it they have been more than 100,000 since 2005. Migration breaks families and modifies lifestyles, especially that of those young children who grew up away from their parents and whose primary values are money and the idea that making a living necessarily means leaving the country and finding fortune abroad.

Mexico - Ciudad Juarez: between violence and hope

2012-01-30

Ciudad Juarez, a bordertown between Mexico and the US, is regarded as one the most violent cities in the world. A pivotal setting in the war among several drug cartels struggling to control the US market, Ciudad Juarez experiences some 4,000 civilian casualties a year. It´s not unusual to stroll on the streets and to come across the police investigating on the scene of a gunfight, or to be stopped at security checkpoints for control. Yet, many decided to fight the fear. Like Javier Sicilia one of the most distinguished poets and intellectuals in Mexico whose son was killed by the narcos who started the Caravan for Peace´, a social movement which continues to travel through Mexico in order to bring back dialogue and hope among its people.

Philippines - A dangerous mission

2012-01-23

For decades, in the southern Philippines´ province of Mindanao, Catholic missionaries have been taking the sides of tribal people, helping them to preserve the rights on their ancestral lands, on which agricultural and mining corporations have been trying to set foot to exploit their resources. After the umpteenth killing of a missionary, that of Italian father Fausto Tentorio, on October 17th, 2011, the situation has grown more and more tense. But the missionaries do not fear, as many believe, the radical Islamic groups active in the region: their enemies, as they say themselves, are in the government, or wear the uniform of the regular Army.

Libya - Bani Walid warriors

2012-01-20

Tripoli, An Nasr district. Members of CNT meet up at commander Nouri's place. The group's mission is to reach the front line on the heights which surround the city of Bani Walid bombarded by the loyalist troops occupying the city. Most of the loyalist troops is gathered here. They have Grad and heat-seeking rockets. The presence of Gaddafi's son, Saif Al Islam, makes loyalist resistance particularly strong. The group is entirely composed of civilians who have received a basic military training. They leave at night to cover the road which leads to the positions along the front line, to avoid to being shot by the loyalist artillery. Their task is to guard, patrol, prepare and place IEDs, improvised explosive devices. Two districts of Bani Walid at the entrance of the city are in the hands of the CNT troops.

World - Ships and the sea

2012-01-18

Ships, men and the sea, in all its forms. From one continent to another: crossing the Atlantic ocean on a cargo, living the Caribbean Sea on a cruise, watching the Mediterranean on a oil rig, visiting the worlds biggest shipyard in South Korea, exploring the Baltic Sea on an icebreaker or thinking about Sicily situation on a ship stuck by the economic crisis. Chasing a humanity that live on the water, a species at ease. The seaworld has no seasons or rest: different oceans, continents and jobs leave a bunch of stories worth to tell behind its back. Captains, shipboys, sailors, welders and workers, who have all gone to sea chasing a dream, struggling against hunger, following their fathers' path. Different hopes and needs melt here. But in front of a storm or at anchor in an African harbour, they all become the same.

Kosovo - Mitrovica, the Palestine of the Balkans

2012-01-16

We´re here to help our Serbian brothers in their struggle. We can rely on 400 men who are ready to leave in a few hours, if necessary. Dimitri is 17, a black scarf wrapped around his face. He arrived on a Russian convoy carrying supplies to this northern Kosovan city, one of the last ramparts of the Serbian resistance. The city of Mitrovica is the symbol of an excruciating multiethnic division where the UN´s ambiguous behavior has resulted in a divisive tension across the whole region: on one hand Kosovo´s independance is a matter of fact, on the other, the same independance is denied. Mitrovica people´s fear is to be submitted to the Albanian authority, thus losing their own identity. For the EULEX (European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo) officers, North Kosovo is a no man´s land. For others, simply the Palestine of the Balkans.

Gioia - Italy - Irish Nomads

2012-01-16

Marie Claire - Hong Kong - Beads for life

2012-01-14

Geo International - Maria

2012-01-13

Financial Times - Germany - Equitalia

2012-01-12

Amnesty Journal - Germany - Orissa

2012-01-11

Panama - The Kunas: between tradition and innovation

2012-01-10

The Kuna is an indigenous group from Central America. Despite being fierce and very protective of their traditions, they are open to needs and stimuli from the modern world. This is the reason why the Kunas are one of the few indigenous people in the world who chose to be integrated in the Panamian culture without giving up their costumes and original culture. They are aware of the importance of the new technologies and mass media and in Panama, they constantly work to promote and protect the cultural values of the Kuna Yala Camarca (a local reservation).

Rolling Stone - Italy - Last Supper in Baghdad

2012-01-10

Italy - The mystery of the Terramare

2012-01-09

A 3500 year long mystery enshrouds the Padan plain. It´s the mystery of the Terramare, the Bronze Age villages which have risen along the river Po where pacific pile dwelling men used to live. In the 13th century B.C the inhabitants were between 150.000 and 200.000. Their history is held in the museums of Parma, Reggio, Modena and Poviglio: the ploughs, the swords, the pins, the razors and the amber buttons tell us the story of a rich, class-structured society who produced artefacts and who developed a sophisticated culture. This culture was re-discovered almost by chance in the Seventies by a young archaeologist, Mauro Cremaschi who still today asks himself the question: why all of a sudden did these villages become depopulated and the Terramare people vanish into thin air?

Financial Times Germany - Milano, the strikers' tower

2012-01-06

Profession Reporter - Street&Travel Photography workshop - with Davide Scagliola

2012-01-05

Street photography is a specialization more and more appreciated and sought after by magazines and a significant section of the non-editorial market. It is a complex art that requests journalistic intuition, discretion, rapidity and the ability to move through often difficult urban environments. The skills of a seasoned photojournalist are combined with the sensibility of a portrait and landscape photographer, an original eye for urban landscapes and architecture. Sometimes, photographing urban and extra-urban realities and its inhabitants can prove, even for an experienced photojournalist, a demanding task. During this workshop, one of our more experienced Street&Travel photojournalists will share with participants his techniques and secrets, both in the theorical phase and in a practical shooting excercise in town.

Next appointment is on March 24/25 in Milano. This course will have a full day of theory and half a day of photo shooting in the city followed by an afternoon of portfolios reading. Suitable for everyone. Basic digital equipment, necessary. Cost: 300 euros. Lesson will be in italian - Infos and reservations: workshop@parallelozero.com - Tel. 02.89281630

Nigeria - Stories of ordinary slavery

2011-12-26

Every year, at least 50,000 girls travel from Nigeria (mostly from Benin City, one of the country´s poorest cities) to Europe. A trafficker, with the help of a voodoo, or juju, priest, managed to convince them that a decent job awaits them in the promised land. The journey is often nightmarish, trying to reach the coast of Italy or Spain on a precarious rubber boat. Many of the girls die of fatigue or drown at sea before reaching their destination. Those who make it, soon realize that the promised job does not exist: after their papers are seized by the traffickers, they are sent on the street as prostitutes. Meanwhile, in Nigeria, the government and an Ngo run by nuns are fighting to set these 21st Century slaves free: from their masters, as well as from the naivete that makes them so vulnerable

Financial Times Germany -Giuliano The Patriot

2011-12-22

Vanity Fair - Italy - Hunting the boss

2011-12-20

Saharawi - 35 years of solitude - By Davide Scagliola and Bruno Zanzottera

2011-12-20

The area of Western Sahara which is not under Moroccan occupation celebrated this year the 35th anniversary of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. But it was an unhappy celebration as Morocco is obstructing the referendum that should decide whether the former Spanish colony, where Moroccan army has established since 1976, will proclaim its independence or integration with the occupying country. The United Nations mission, which is in charge of organizing the referendum, seems to make a weak impact on the situation. As a consequence of the neverending waiting – the official cease-fire plan dates back to 1991 – it's getting more and more difficult for the senior staff of the Polisario Front to control the discontent. An increasing number of young people, tired of living in refugee camps in Algeria, are planning to resume hostilities.

Laos - Tubing in Vang Vieng

2011-12-20

Vang Vieng is a small village halfway between Vientiane the country's current capital -and Luang Prabang, the ancient city, now a Unesco world heritage site. The village has been attracting tourists for over ten years now, since tubing a kind of slow pace rafting made with an old tractor inflated inner tube - has become very popular. With the arrival of hundreds of young thrill-seekers from all over the world, many facilities have been organized: cheap alcohol and drugs have transformed the village in a world mecca for those who look for extreme fun. Here the harsh Laotian drug laws the cultivation and production of opium in Laos is one of the most important worldwide - are ignored or bypassed with bribes and corruption. This mixture of drugs and heavy drinking is now the main reason of many westerners dying in the Nam Song river.

Palestine - Kicking out war in Palestine

2011-12-19

Someone has decided to kick out war using a soccer ball as a mean to promote a dream: that of a Palestinian state. The project starts obviously with the kids but it needs some relevant testimonials, a professional championship and a national team in the first place. This adventure can count on the full support from Fifa and on the costant help of many national federations (the Italian one, among the others) but it couldn't have turned into reality if politicians did not believe in it. While he was meeting the French football star Lilian Thuram involved in the promotion of soccer at these boisterous latitudes- the President of the Palestinian National Authority Abu Mazen declared: Not just economics and politics, we also need to talk about sports.

North Korea - Inside the utopia

2011-12-13

An exceptional reportage from the heart of the impenetrable kingdom of Kim Jong Il, the absolute dictator of the most totalitarian state on the planet, who has just passed away. The country has been completely isolated from the rest of the world, anchored to a rigid pseudo-socialist ideal and founded on the most maniacal cult of personality which the human mind has ever been able to create. In the immense cities and deserts, in the woods, in the ancient villages, the people try to survive the scorching summers, freezing winters, hunger and famines but without neglecting their duty as good citizens: to honour the sacred name of their Great Leader every day of the year.

Palestine - Gaza: art is resistance

2011-12-10

What urges Gaza people to express themselves through art? Here the artists work in a ravaged land, the ground for weapon as well as for psychological testing: the attempt at destroying men through the destruction both of their mental and nervous system which eventually results in the loss of certainty in their own existence and in that of their loved ones. Thus, making art is a primary need, a lifesaving and a reaction strategy. It definitely is the only counter-war that this people can start in this condition, using pacific weapons. Keeping a watchful eye on the future, many of these artists commit themselves to the art education of children, less fortunate people and war casualties, winning back their trust through art to reshape a future and to make them the men of tomorrow.

Italy - May God ski with you

2011-12-05

They come down like God a woman beyond the trail remarks ironically. An easy joke for the Italian Religious Ski Championship where priests, missionaries and friars are the partakers- with an ironic title: May God ski with you. Organized in Sestola, Modena, by the Centro Sportivo Italiano, it attracts over seventy priests from all over Italy: the one skiing with the Gospel under the jacket, the ex-dj - and ex womanizer- now redeemed, the 82 year old priest who started skiing with old fashioned ash-wood skis. And along comes Father Franco from the Non Valley, also known as the flying priest: every morning after the mass he goes running and when he can he also goes ski touring, his true passion. All young priests should better practice sports he says competition helps fighting following the rules and becomes a sort of mission.

Italy - Along the Strait

2011-12-05

The Strait of Messina separates Sicily and Calabria. At its narrowest point, the continental and Sicilian coasts are about 3Kms apart from each other. The water of the Strait joins people and cultures. Journalist Merlo writes: Straits are shortcuts that the seas invented to narrow the times of encounter between different people and continues Messina and Reggio Calabria are just one city divided by a little of water. Some time ago a foreign tourist, who was walking down the Reggio shore and could clearly see the city of Messina on the other side, asked with surprise: What's the name of this lake? . Today, the last feluccas the traditional wooden boats used for swordfish hunting sail the waters of the lake of Messina, anchored at both of the two coasts of a Strait which holds a single soul.

L'Espresso - Italy - The catacombs of Las Vegas

2011-12-01

Southamerica - Cockfighting in Latin America

2011-12-01

It's early morning at the cockfighting club in Higüey, Dominican Republic, and breeders are ready to go. They weigh their roosters, shave them, tie sharp gaffs on their legs and then wait on the stairs of the small arena for their gamecocks' turn to fight, usually drinking beer and smoking cigars. The show starts in the afternoon and goes on till late night, the audience screaming, gambling and exchanging money. Despite being illegal in many countries and harshly criticized by animal welfare associations, cockfighting is still very popular in South America - especially Perù, Mexico and Dominican Republic - and Asia, where is a regular appointment over the several local festivities. Just like in the famous painting by Johann Zoffany, where an entire Indian community - at the end of the 18th century - used to gather around the cockpit.

United States - The catacombs of Las Vegas

2011-11-30

Las Vegas is a mermaid that enchants you with its lights but it is also a living hell for desperate people. Homeless people whose number raised as a result of the economic crisis- that Sin City prefers not to see, forcing them to live in underground tunnels originally designed as gutters. Catacombs run for over 500 miles underneath Las Vegas and host human phantoms, shadow men, homeless people with no work and no family. Often with no identity. There is everything here: lonely elderly people, depressed teenagers, poor young mothers, sick persons, drug addicts, alcoholics, war veterans and compulsive gamblers. It takes little to evict them: a police bust, an argument, a violent rainstorm on the mountains. When it rains we expect a little tzunami Nenad, 33, explains and when it arrives you have only thirty seconds to run away.

Italy - The red gene

2011-11-22

Scientists have calculated that redheads might die out soon. The MCR1 gene, responsible for the red hair, is a recessive one occurring only on 2% of the human population.Their disappearance is very likely to happen despite the fact that in the past they have proved to be very strong: in Northern Europe redheads have been thriving over the centuries despite the scarce sunlight while the rest of the people have been suffering from rickets. Also, redheads react differently to anesthesia and they happen to be stung by bees more often. The subjects in this album are mere acquaintances or strangers who all have the same alert gaze in common as if they were conscious (even when they are really young) of being more and more rare and, as a result of this, more and more special.

Palestine - Gaza surfin' girls

2011-11-21

Surfing in Gaza is difficult. Almost impossible if you are a girl: everybody's eyes are upon you. Plus your jeans are soaked with water. However, four Palestinian girls decided to defy the dictates of Hamas. Every day - with their surfboards clutched under their arms - they head for the beach of the Annadi Al Bahri Marine Club. Sabah, Khouloud, Shorouq and Rwan are cousins to each other and aged between 10 and 14. They love surfing the web, playing with their friends, horse riding or simply visiting the parks in Gaza City. They live along the beach and their parents are fishermen and lifeguards, proud that their daughters play a sport, facing the waves of the Mediterranean sea. But how long will it last? Will they be forced to quit surfing as time goes by? Nobody knows, so far. But today, they are just the Gaza surfin' girls.

Libya - Young traffic officers grow up

2011-11-21

They stand at every crossroads in Benghazi. They look confident as they direct the traffic, give information to bystanders and invite Libyan drivers to obey the rules of the road. They are Mohamed and Ali, ten years old, Islam, 14, Ahmed, 15, and one hundred other baby-traffic officers and they help the few remaining adult policemen to direct the traffic in the city. Not all of them wear a uniform, but their presence amuses drivers. This is our aim Massoud Hazi, 51 years old, explains. He has been living on a wheelchair since he was wounded in a car accident in 1982. I created the young traffic officers force to sensitize the public awareness of the importance of safe driving. We had a great response, so we could teach many young people the rules of the road. And now that we are in wartime they are proving themselves very useful.

Longitude - Italy - Afghanistan: The General

2011-11-18

Benin - Voudou, the oldest religion in the world

2011-11-14

Voudou, which literally means 'spirit', or even more literally 'unconscious sign', is an African religion with a strongly esoteric character. Modern Voudou is the derivation of one of the most ancient religions in the world, present in Africa since the dawn of human civilisation. Some historians believe that the ancient Voudou religion even dates back ten thousand years. Widespread in many areas of the Black Continent, the profound philosophic wisdom of Voudou then spread throughout the Americas, as a consequence of the deportation of black slaves to the new colonies. Today, Voudou is practiced by about sixty million people worldwide, and has recently gained the privilege of being recognised as an official religion in Benin and Togo, where it is organised as a church frequented by the majority of the population.

Italy - Discovering Basilicata, an unknown land.

2011-11-13

Up to fifty years ago, Basilicata was still called the unknown land. The wildest region of Italy, it is the same area depicted by Carlo Levi in his famous book Christ stopped at Eboli: a bit rural , the only region without an aereoport, the most uninhabited (only after the Val d´Aosta) and with the smallest highway in the whole country. Basilicata performs the last pagan rituals in Europe. The so called sylvian weddings (the most famous is the May in Accettura) are the spring ceremonies wherein a beech and a spruce, dragged to the valley by giant Chianina cows, are joint and risen in the centre of the main square of the town. The two trees stand joint for a whole year to symbolize fertility a tourist guide explains.

Two new photographers have just joined our agency

2011-11-09

Ugo Lucio Borga is an italian photojournalist who lives in Turin. His features from Libya, Somalia, Eritrea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Mauritania, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Tanzania, Ruanda, Mali, Indonesia, Sri Lanka have been published on several national and international magazines, radio and television such as The Independent, La Vanguardia, Die Zeit, Die Welt, Die Presse, Haaretz, the Observer, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Sport Week, GQ,La Stampa, Il Corriere della Sera, Il Giornale, Il Manifesto, Il Riformista, Venerdì di Repubblica, Radio 24, Radio RSI, Channel4, Rai News24, Skytg24.

Giorgio Palmera instead is born in Rome in 1968, where he now live and works. He is busy roducing stories about international social issues. With the aid of the European UNion e of some Ongs, he has extensively travelled In the Middle East, Africa and Central America producing reportages for several italian magazines. Between 1996 and 1998 he has lived in Nicaragua where he had the idea of creating photographic workshops for kids living in the streets. Lately he has won the Lucca Book Contest 2011 with MEMORIA, Postcart, Roma 2011, a book on the visual reconstruction of collective and individual memory of the Argentinians.

Welcome guys! For their complete bios and info please go to:
http://www.parallelozero.com/photographers.php

Palestine - The Israeli-Palestinian water war

2011-11-09

Control over water resources is one of the most fierce and pivotal reasons of conflict between Israel and Palestine. For both countries 2011 has been the worst year since decades. Lake Tiberias is at its lowest level. The Israel water authority fears that at this rate - the point of no return will be soon reached, causing irreversible damages to the water quality. The situation is critical also in Ramallah, Bethlehem and in all those West Bank areas where farming is still an important branch of the economic system regardless the Israeli settlements. Colonies which means to Palestinians - less soils, less olive groves, less fields and, dramatically, less water resources.

Libya - Tripoli beach

2011-11-04

Tripoli inhabitants see a slow return to normality as they shyly return to its beaches. On Fridays it is possible to meet entire families enjoying the sparse beach facilities with their own food and drinks containers. Fighters in charge of the security for the capital crowd the beach and greet each other raising their fingers as if to say We won, we are alive and the here-and-now of the war is replaced by a future we could hardly imagine. At night, a feeling of insecurity inherited from the past eight months of fighting - rise again though: empty beaches and rare AK-47 gunshots remind people that not everything has passed yet. The warm, peaceful sea of Tripoli becomes the perfect destination for couples seeking privacy. In its horizon, everyone is trying to find shelter from what it was and a promise for what it will be.

United States - Mississippi delta blues

2011-10-25

Greenville is halfway between Memphis and New Orleans. The "Blues Bar", a stone's throw from the Mississippi river, offers afternoon jam sessions inspired by Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. Greenville is in the heart of the Delta Blues Land, a fertile but depressed land where unemployment rate is high and poor people survive fishing catfishes in the river. That is where, in the Twenties, black workers used to sing Delta Blues songs in sawmills, rail yards and cotton fields. It was the birth of the American popular music. Travelling along the Mississippi River today you´ll find that since then not much has changed, and the tradition of the blues murals, juke-joint, music festivals is more alive than ever. Especially on Saturdays in Clarksdale, where an apparently abandoned warehouse at night comes alive with blues: the Ground Zero.

Liberia - Madam President, Nobel for Peace

2011-10-13

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has been president of Liberia since January 2006 and, at 73, is the first woman in the history of Africa to be elected head of state. They call her the Iron Lady, the black Thatcher: without exaggeration. Sirleaf is a self-made woman, thanks to her tenacity and integrity. She was director of The World Bank, Minister of Finance, president of the African sector of the United Nations development programme, she´s been accused of high treason, imprisoned, forced into exile. Today, on her shoulders lies the responsibility to rebuild a country devastated by 14 years of civil war, from scratch. And to restore hope, not only to Liberia, but the whole of Africa. On Oct 7th, 2011, as a tribute to her first two, extraordinary presidential mandates, she won the Nobel Prize for Peace.

11 Freunde - Germany - Afghanistan

2011-10-12

Vanity Fair - Italy - Moldova

2011-10-12

VSD - France - Fontana di Trevi's jackpot

2011-10-11

MARE - GERMANY - LIGHTHOUSE KEEPERS

2011-10-11

Vanity Fair - Italy - Save the Children

2011-10-10

Profession Reporter - Photography and Anthropology in Africa. The Dark Matter: photographing the immaterial. With Bruno Zanzottera e Alberto Salza

2011-10-10

Africa gave to modern world abstract art, explicit rhythm and the gestures of dance. They are immaterial commodities, halfway between matter and spirit. Thus, it happens that traveling in Africa resembles a journey through the element that physicists call dark matter, the invisible mass of particles that fills up most of the Universe. We do not know how to look at this dark matter, but without it, the world as we know it would not exist. Yet, signs of its' existence appear. In the Black Continent you move through the presence-absence of the ancestors (visible in the sculptures and lingering over daily life practices); through the difficult mono-perception of the aesthetics of gesture and sound ("Listen to the dance and watch the music" they say in the Congo); through the rich matter of misery, of famine, of drought, of catastrophe. The Africa of men and culture, contrary to that of landscapes, glows of a black light: how do you point your lens, adjust focus and exposure, shoot, and end up writing with that light - in fine "photo-graphy" - a portrait of alien men, gestures, sounds, dwellings, costumes, objects and thoughts?

Next workshop to be held on 14/15 April in Milan. Main teachers will be anthropologist Alberto Salza and photographer Bruno Zanzottera. Cost is 300 euros per person. More info writing to workshop@parallelozero.com - Tel. +39 02.89281630.

Internazionale - Italy - Various

2011-10-07

Longitude - Italy - Gaza

2011-10-05

ROLLING STONE - ITALY - COUNTER IED IN AFGHANISTAN

2011-10-01

Geolino - Germany - Polizeikinder

2011-09-26

Afghanistan - Herat, Journalistan

2011-09-22

At Herat University, Afghanistan´s second largest after Kabul´s, the brand-new Faculty of Journalism was created in April, 2011, thanks to the effort of the Italian cooperation. Here are being born the professionals who soon will tell stories of the new Afghanistan to their fellow nationals. Actually, many of them, while they´re still studying the fundamentals of the job, are already doing that from the microphones of the new, self-financed private radio stations, or through the freshly-born TV channels. And, surprisingly, one third of this X-generation of journalists are women.

The Liquid Stage - Stories of men and water - Rome 30th September - Palazzo delle Esposizioni

2011-09-20

The photoexhibition "The Liquid Stage - Stories of men and water" opens up on September 30th in Rome at Palazzo delle Esposizioni. Around 40 images shot by our photographers will be presented during the Festival della Letteratura di Viaggio 2011 until October 23rd.

More info on the festival website: www.festivaletteraturadiviaggio.it

Libya - Revolution: part two

2011-09-18

Bombed by NATO forces in March 2011, Qaddafi tanks were left on the outskirts of Benghazi as gruesome trophies. Symbols of a siege that is only a memory, wreckage over which the Libyan families are queuing to be photographed on Friday, the holiday. For sure the fear of attacks and the possible presence of loyalist spies in the city keeps the attention high. But Banghazi is slowly returning to normality, shops reopened, young men gather together in cafés, mothers bring their children to the park. As on the eastern front the fighting has become an exhausting war of position, the core of the conflict has moved to Tripoli where clashes and bombings shake the capital and the besieged city of Misrata.

Afghanistan - Italy at war, ten years later

2011-09-17

Italian troops in Afghanistan amount to almost four thousand. They are basically located in the western and south-western part of the country, and man strongholds such as Bala Murghab, the Zirko Valley and Bala Baluk, in the heart of Taliban land. They work hard to put into practice the new counterinsurgency doctrine. But, on the tenth anniversary of the beginning of the war, they have to work just as hard to defend themselves.

Parallelozero presents: "Baranzate - The world in a district" - A photoexhibition by Bruno Zanzottera

2011-09-15

In a small village few kilometers away from Milan downtown, live many families coming at least from 70 different countries. Baranzate counts no more than 11.000 inhabitants, but has lately become a symbol of multiethnic life in the north of Italy, a place where cultures and traditions meet peacefully in few hundreds square meters.
Photojournalist Bruno Zanzottera has explored those living contexts for more than a year, producing a great impact series of portraits which unveil a very interesting story about cohabitation and respect among different nationalities. The pictures will be presented on Sunday 18th September during the opening of the "Il Mondo nel Quartiere", an event that will take place in Piazza Giovanni Falcone -Baranzate (MI) starting at 6 pm.

United States - Las Vegas Crazy Hair

2011-09-10

Imagine more than 3.000 hair stylists coming from all over the States, plus some hundreds european hair specialists. Gather them under the same roof in one of the most luxurious and kitschy Las Vegas hotel under the creative direction of a scottish man who resembles more like the mad hatter rather than an art director, and blend everything with models, house music, fashion show, workshops, fashion designer, hair dressing stars, and you will have more or less the picture of what happens every year during the Paul Mitchell annual gathering. The company is one of the more active and en-vogue hair beauty products maker in America. Its president and CEO, John Paul deJoria is a philanthropist, a pony-tailed billionaire with a former Playboy playmate as a wife, an incredible talent for business and a unique vision of the world.

Amnesty Magazine - Germany - Gaza: fuck generation

2011-09-09

National Geographic Magazine USA, gives Alessandro Gandolfi best edit award.

2011-09-08

The American magazine awarded the report on the Strait of Messina— which has just been published in the September 2011 issue of the Italian edition— with the Best Edit Award, a prize that the editorial office of National Geographic in Washington assigns every month to the best article published among the several local editions of the magazine. This is the second time a report by Alessandro Gandolfi for National Geographic Italia has received such a prestigious accolade: the first one was awarded for his report devoted to the archeological site of Hierapolis, Turkey, published in the February 2010 issue. "The concept of my report is to describe the Strait as a place where water joins people rather than dividing them” explains Alessandro Gandolfi “and where we are able to recognize traits of continuity between the coast of Sicily and that of Calabria. The text of my report was written by Francesco Merlo, a Sicilian born journalist for La Repubblica." The Parmesan photographer will exhibit his work about the Strait on Wednesday, August 31st during the International Festival of Photojournalism in Perpignan, France, where National Geographic has invited him to give an account of the origin and the actual making of the report.
You can take a look at Alessandro’s story on the National Geographic website. www.nationalgeographic.it/italia/2011/09/05/foto/messina_ponte_sullo_stretto-476354/1

Mare - Germany - Gaza Surf

2011-09-05

Egypt - A country in between

2011-09-01

A question is hanging over Egypt, a country that today seems to be stuck between its past and future: who will assume the leadership? The revolutionary front looks less united than in the early stage of the uprising. While the 2011 Egyptian Revolution began with the same slogan as the revolution of 1952 "Egypt to the Egyptians , today, after Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak, there are no more Free Officials. With a view to the elections in November, new political movements are flourishing: those who wish for a secular society are in contrast with the those who want Islam to rule the new Egypt. Young rebels of the January 25 movement feel they have lost control over the process of change as the Army took over the country through the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. In the background, Hosni Mubarak´s trial stressed the political struggle.

South Caucasus - The Limbo Nation - 20 years after

2011-08-02

Nagorno Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur, covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains. In 1991 its inhabitants decided for independence, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Although it doesn't exist de jure, Nagorno-Karabakh is, de facto, a community of 140.000 people that are more concerned with their everyday lives than worrying about the legal recognition of a state. This reportage - 20 years after the declaration of indipendence - tries to tell how is life in a non-existent country and shows how the Karabaki, despite the consequences of war and poverty, still manage to live with dignity.

New Zealand - The women in black

2011-07-21

The Black Ferns are thirty-two women that make New Zealand´s national rugby team, the female equivalent of the famous All Blacks. Composed by athletes who are often bulky, heavily muscled, very tattooed and, according to their male counterparts, pretty mean on the field, the team is, as much as the male one, a national institution, around which revolves the crazy, almost hysterical passion of a whole population for this sport, whose international successes or failures are capable of affecting the national economy to a significant extent. Yet the Black Ferns have a budget that is a fraction compared to the male team´s, play almost without pay and train, as many of them say, out of sheer passion. The same passion that led them to win four world cups out of five.

Europe - In a stone tower

2011-07-19

The tower is their home, their life, often their world, in which they seclude themselves, in voluntary isolation from the rest of the planet. The sea is their companion. Sometimes a dog, or a cat. They talk to the rain, the wind and the swell. Some drink, some drink too much, some are abstemious. Some believe in God, some no longer even trust their fellow man. Between their hands, they behold the light. A light which, even in the era of satellite navigation, still warms the heart of those who are at sea. Their job is doomed to die, and some have died because of their job. They are a bunch of men and women, each unique in his or her own way. They are the last lighthouse keepers.

Morocco - Morocco´s first female taxi driver

2011-07-17

She is the first female driver behind the wheel of a grand taxi in Morocco. In Casablanca Fatima Bennadi has become an institution: with colleagues and friends greeting her at every crossroads or at the taxi rank, her white Mercedes is part of the urban landscape. She has been driving it for 20 years, since her husband lost his job, in 1991, and Fatima made up a new life as a taxi driver. Today, aged 66, she is a wife and a mother who spends her time driving her beloved taxicab and shopping at the local markets. She believes in equal rights for men and women. I don´t like bearded men - she states, referring to Islamic fundamentalists - who think women should stay home doing nothing all day. We need to work in order to be free to do the things we like, such as going out and traveling, just like you do in Europe.

Syria - Young rebels

2011-07-09

Despite its Arabic roots, Syria is also the homecountry of a generation of young people who are refusing tradition in the search of a more modern lifestyle, which they learned about through movies, tv serials and the web. Ahmad, a 20 year-old boy who renamed himself Fox, and his friend Muhammad Jack, 18, are perfect examples of this generation. Fox refuses anything of his Arabic heritage: he changed his name and hairstyle, and he started working when aged 14. He currently works in a clothes shop in a mall in a suburb of Damascus. I will not stay in Syria forever - he tells -. I will travel to the United Arab Emirates and find a job in a big fashion store. Unlike Fox, Jack does not totally refuse his roots. He spends his time hanging out with his friends and surfing the web in a cybercafe, but he didn´t abandon Muslim practises.

Western Sahara - Sahrawi: 35 years of solitude

2011-07-09

The area of Western Sahara which is not under Moroccan occupation celebrated this year the 35th anniversary of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. But it was an unhappy celebration as Morocco is obstructing the referendum that should decide whether the former Spanish colony, where Moroccan army has established since 1976, will proclaim its independence or integration with the occupying country. The United Nations mission, which is in charge of organizing the referendum, seems to make a weak impact on the situation. As a consequence of the neverending waiting the official cease-fire plan dates back to 1991 it's getting more and more difficult for the senior staff of the Polisario Front to control the discontent. An increasing number of young people, tired of living in refugee camps in Algeria, are planning to resume hostilities.

Famiglia Cristiana - Italy - Souther Sudan - The Nuba fight

2011-07-09

United States - New Mexico, along the Camino Real

2011-07-05

An old brochure dating back to the Thirties invited tourists to discover the beauties of the Egypt of America: New Mexico. Here is where North American archaeology was born, following the traces of the Anasazi a native American civilization that existed for thirteen years living in sedentary settlement, farming and building monumental complexes and rediscovering the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the oldest European trade route in the New World, the first one to connect Mexico and regions of the United States. For three centuries traders, adventurers and missionaries traveled its 1.500 miles, walking past volcanos, rivers, salt mines and deserts. Neglected for centuries, the Camino Real has now been partially reopened and its New Mexico portion has been classified as national historic trail. A museum illustrates its history.

Francesco Alesi - Documentary project on Nagorno-Karabakh

2011-06-29

Narek is a victim but he doesn’t see himself that way. Narek is a strong and generous man with a face and body shaped by history like the mountains of the Caucasus. Narek lives with his family along the ancient silk road in the forgotten village Zumzur: 72 inhabitants, 12 families, 2 cars and no shops. The war between Armenia and Azerbaijan from 92-94 left destruction and death in Karabakh and a territory filled with mines. Narek lost both his legs because of the war....
"On August 26th his youngest son is getting married - says Franceso. Narek has also invited me and so I’m going to join them for the wedding and will remain a bit longer to finish this documentary. Hopefully". Directed and shot by Francesco Alesi - We are looking for a producer/investor to continue and finish the documentary. See the entire clip at: http://vimeo.com/25668152. Please contact Parallelozero for more info at francesco.alesi@parallelozero.com

"Volti Nuovi" Photoexhibition - Museo Diffuso della Resistenza, della Deportazione, della Guerra, dei Diritti e della Libertà

2011-06-28

Franceso Alesi will be partecipating to the photoexhibition "Volti Nuovi" that will premiere in Turin on Friday July the 1st at Museo Diffuso della Resistenza, della Deportazione, della Guerra, dei Diritti e della Libertà, Corso Valdocco 4/a, 18 p.m. The exhibition will remain open until September the 11st. More info on www.museodiffusotorino.it .

Libya - War fishing boats

2011-06-25

Misratah has been under the siege of Qaddafi´s troops for five months, and its only channel of communication with free Libya is the sea. The population of Benghazi, with the creativity that characterizes the revolution, has organized a boat line to supply the country´s third city with food, medicines, and the weaponry and ammunitions that the revolutionary militias need to keep on pushing towards Tripoli. Despite the constant shelling on Misratah port, dozens of Benghazi fishing boats, converted into warships armed with rocket launchers and heavy-caliber machine guns, and commanded by volunteer captains, connect the two cities, bringing help in and hundreds of refugees on their way out.

The Hurt Lockers

2011-06-23

They are few, selected and extraordinarily well trained. They chose a life of risk, but, unlike the Oscar-winning movie’s main character, do not feel like joking about death, which took away many of their colleagues. Their code name is IEDD, an acronym that stands for “improvised explosive device disposal”: they are the bomb specialists of the Italian Army, based all over Western Afghanistan. Considered among the world’s best, they use the most advanced technologies, and are forced to update almost daily against an insurgency using explosive devices that day after day turn out to be more sophisticated, creative, and lethal.

The Interpreter

2011-06-23

How many times can you die? How many can you be reborn? And how many can you change, to the point of being unrecognizable even to your family? Mohaned, a young Iraqi, has been everything from a DJ to a small businessman, to a soldier in the Iraqi Army, to a an armed man whom at some point would have been identified as an insurgent, to an employee of the Italian embassy in Baghdad, to an interpreter wearing the uniform of the U.S. Army, to a refugee in Italy, to a father and a divorced husband, and, finally, back to an interpreter with the U.S. forces. In 2003, he was a solar young boy. Seven years later, he is an alcoholic, whose hair went grey too soon and who sleeps every night with a Kalashnikov by his side, terrified by the possibility of being executed as a traitor. This is the story of the last seven years of his life.

Latvia - Celebrating Midsummer with the pagan gods

2011-06-20

Latvia was the last European country to be Christianized, in the XIII century by Teutonians Knights, and nowadays the old Latvian religion, based on natural deities, is still deep rooted in their culture through ancient legends, popular songs and rituals such as Janis festival. On summer solstice, the most important celebration of the year, families gather in wild sites. They weave wreath of flowers and leaves against the evil spirits, prepare specials beers, cheeses and cakes, and sing old songs (ligo) around a sacred fire. At night they wait for Laima, the goddess of luck, while young couples venture into the forests in search of the fern flower, a plant that according to the legend blossoms only once a year. For many Latvians, this is not only folklore, but a religious ceremony related to the old deities of the northern pantheon.

Peru - The princess of the Andes

2011-06-20

Vicuña´s wool is the fiber of the rich. It is worn by the wealthiest men on Earth, the only ones who can afford a coat worth thirty thousand dollars. Five centuries ago, one man in the world had the right to wear it: it was the Inca king, the ruler of the immense Andean empire. The fiber of vicuña the princess of the Andes is soft, glossy and light as no other. Yet, in spite of being so light, it provided a warmth nowhere to be found. In the times of the Incas, the vicuñas used to number as many as one million animals but the conquistadores exterminated them. For fifteen years now selling vicuña wool has been legal, but only if the shearing is performed on animals that are alive. The main beneficiaries of this business are the local communities, the only ones allowed to shear the animals and sell the wool.

Albania - I love Chameria. A new exodus

2011-06-18

On June the 27th 1944 around 1,000 Chams were killed by the Greek army in the region at the border with Albania, while the survivors of the genocide managed to flee to the nearby partially Muslim country. As a consequence of the exodus, Islam substantially disappeared in Greece, while the ethnic composition of Albania shifted and nowadays around the 22% of the population is of Cham descend. After sixty years of silence, Shpetim Idrizi, a Cham Albanian politician and leader of the PDIU party, is promoting a campaign in the attempt to increase the awareness on this episode forgotten by history. Besides the stencils spreading all over the country as a part of his campaign, vintage photographs and a cemetery built along the border between Greek and Albania are concrete evidences of the genocide.

Palestine - Gaza: Fuck Generation

2011-06-17

A few months ago a Manifesto was published on the web by a group of young people from Gaza: "Fuck Hamas, fuck Israel, fuck Fatah, fuck the UN, fuck the UNWRA, fuck the USA! We, the youth of Gaza, are so fed up with Israel, Hamas, the occupation, the violations of human rights and the indifference of the international community! We want to scream and break this wall of silence". The message put the bloggers´ lives at risk, as it angered Hamas, but it also shocked the audience and finally shed light on the frustration experimented by the young residents of Gaza. A generation of creative and dynamic boys and girls who are tired of being regarded as terrorists or religious fanatics, and openly defy Hamas laws. Directors who have filmed the protest, girls who smoke shisha in public, rappers, skaters, breakdancers and graffiti artists.

Forgetting Chad - Photoexhibition by Alessandro Gandolfi - From June 17th to 19th 2011 - Milano - Circolo Arci Bellezza.

2011-06-15

Pictures from one of the most forgotten countries of Africa. In cooperation with COOPI and Indian Nation. After years of civil wars, Chad suffers infantile malnutrition, it is stricken by drought and desertification and it is invaded by hundreds of thousands refugees from Central Africa and Sudan. The international community which is always focusing on nearby Darfur, has forgotten Chad and in 2011 the United Nations military forces are going to abandon the country. “A premature move out – they say from the UNHCR – because the risk that Al-Qaida will infiltrate the country is real”. Chad nevertheless remains a politically stable country, with reinforced power coming from the proceeds of oil extraction. This wealth however does not get redistributed and, while 80% of the population lives under the poverty line. The italian Ong COOPI, working in Chad since 1976, is one of the few international organization which still tries to carry on humanitarian projects in this country.

The last survivor of Tibhirine

2011-06-15

Father Jean-Pierre was the custodian monk of the monastery during the kidnapping and killing of the seven monks of Tibhirine, in Algeria, on March 1996. Together with father Amédée, they were the only survivors of the slaughter which, after 15 years, is still shrouded in mystery. But the memory of Tibhirine and the killed monks goes well beyond the political matters of the civil war and the Islamic terrorism. It survives thanks to books and movies, but especially through the direct words of Jean-Pierre, the last living monk. Father Jean-Pierre, together with Amedée – who died two years ago –, has left Algeria in order to continue his monastic life on the highlands of the Atlas in Morocco, where Trappists have moved their “Notre Dame of the Atlas” new monastery. Jean-Pierre is nowadays the last connection between these two places.

Southern Sudan - Arrow Boys

2011-06-13

In the Southern area of Southern Sudan, the Western Equatoria region, villages bordering with Democratic Republic of the Congo and Central African Republic are often attacked by the rebels of Lord´s Resistance Army (LRA). In the remotest villages frightened inhabitants are leaving their homes to find shelter in more populated towns, which have better means of defence. The military presence is not enough to keep them safe, and that´s why many young men have formed self-defense forces. They decided to call themselves Arrow Boy after the arrows dip in poison which they use as weapons, besides some old guns. Thanks to their familiarity with the forests surrounding the area, ArrowBoys have proved themselves a vital defense for the villages; very often they cooperate with the army as they guide soldiers across the territory.

Libya - Revolution!

2011-06-09

On February 17th, the Libyan revolution has started. Parallelozero photojournalist Alessandro Gandolfi has covered the event shooting a series of reportages in the country. Beyond the subjects depicted in these photos, we have other available text-and-pics stories on the women of the revolution, the new Libyan media, the destroyed villa of Qaddafi, the exodus of the alien workers from the country and on the Ras Lanuf refinery, being bombed these days by the government army, which never before had been photographed inside.

PHOTO EXHIBITION - No Frills Sport by Alessandro Gandolfi e Sergio Ramazzotti - Milan - 10 June 2011

2011-05-25

Thecnology, fashion, self-marketing. Those factors have become essential in the western countries' approach to different sports. Very often the "physyical" and "emotional" values stay well behind the economic and public relation strategies. But the young surfers of Gaza or the female Kabul's soccer team for example, strongly remind us how sports should be lived. Against all odds, passion is the only thing that really counts. Edited by Gianmarco Maraviglia in cooperaion with Mad and Four Roses Gallery.

Libya - Women of the revolution

2011-05-19

They have been appointed as the revolutionary sisters. Salwa and Iman Bugaighis are the female face of an interim government. One is a lawyer, the other one a doctor. One has joined the council that is leading Benghazi, the other one is in charge for the logistics and the relations with the media. They are two independent women who studied abroad and chose not to wear the veil. They aren´t afraid to be on the front line. As the government seems to be lacking a proper leader, they have become the symbol of a protest that in Benghazi is mainly represented by women. Women are the most active side of demonstrations and the authors of articles on the new free media. We were desperate and thought nothing would change Imam says , but now we have a dream. And we are all committed to make it happen.

India - The hospital-boats of the Ganges delta

2011-05-19

Enclosed by a mangrove forest on the Ganges delta, the Sundarbans archipelago is a remote corner of India in the West Bengal region. Inhabitants of the archipelago which is listed by Unesco as a World Heritage site and includes over 50 islands mostly live in poverty. If it weren´t for boat connections, they would be completely marooned. With a fleet of four fully equipped ferries and some smaller speed crafts, hospital-boats of the Southern Health Improvement Samity (Shis, a welfare organization established in 1979) are the only medical facility provided to these people. Since the christening of the first ferry in 1997, Shis volunteer doctors have been providing medical aids, first aid services and free medicines. Hospital-boats are the only medical facilities provided to the inhabitants of the Sundarbans.

MAX - AFGHANISTAN, SKATER IN KABUL

2011-05-17

India - Dongria´s fight against the bauxite mine

2011-05-17

Dongria and other Kondh tribal groups are fighting against multinational Vedanta´s mining plans which would turn the Niyamgiri Hills into a giant bauxite mine. Dongria and Kondh people are already experimenting the consequences of a bauxite refinery build by Vedanta at the foot of the Niyamgiri Hills. With a population of 8,000 people, Dongria Kondh is one of the remotest tribes in India. They live in small villages on the Niyamgiri Hills, a very green land where they also grow vegetables. Dongria have been preserving their land for centuries and that´s why they call themselves Jharnia, meaning protectors of streams. If Vedanta was to build an open-cast mine, Niyamgiri forests and rivers would be destroyed. Moreover, this would annihilate Dongria Kondh as a population, depriving them of their culture and identity.

PARALLELOZERO - Portfolios reading - May and June

2011-05-11

During the Festival della Fotografia Etica that will take place in Lodi (Mi) from 19 to 22 of May, Gianmarco Maraviglia, director of our agency, will give portfolio readings to the photographers who will register through the festival website. More info writing to portfolio@festivaldellafotografiaetica.it .

On the 17th, 18th and 19th of June instead, inside the Reggia di Colorno (PR) premises, the second edition of the COLORNOPHOTOLIFE Photography Festival will be held. Our photojournalist Alessandro Gandolfi will be giving portfolio readings to photographers that will book through the website www.colornophotolife.it. The meeting will start on sunday 19th from 10.30 AM onward.

Tunisia - In the traffickers' web

2011-05-09

After the fall of the Ben Ali regime, Tunisia is almost out of control. The police and the coast guard no longer patrol ports and territorial waters, and many Tunisians, as well as refugees coming from Libya, have taken and still take the chance to reach Italy by boat. The situation has been largely exploited by some mob-style organizations of human traffickers based in the Tunisian port city of Zarzis, which send to Europe tens of thousands of desperate people every month, at the price of 1,200 Euros each for a highly dangerous crossing to Lampedusa, a tiny island and Italy´s southernmost point. We have infiltrated one of those organizations, headed by a trafficker named Osama who, until late 2010, used to work as an entertainer in a tourist village.

Nigeria - Stories of ordinary slavery - TV Series

2011-05-08

Every year, at least 50,000 girls travel from Nigeria (mostly from Benin City, one of the country’s poorest cities) to Europe. A trafficker, with the help of a voodoo, or juju, priest, managed to convince them that a decent job awaits them in the promised land. The journey is often nightmarish, trying to reach the coast of Italy or Spain on a precarious rubber boat. Many of the girls die of fatigue or drown at sea before reaching their destination. Those who make it, soon realize that the promised job does not exist: after their papers are seized by the traffickers, they are sent on the street as prostitutes. Meanwhile, in Nigeria, the government and an Ngo run by nuns are fighting to set these 21st Century slaves free: from their masters, as well as from the naivete that makes them so vulnerable.

Southern Sudan - The Citizen, the one and only newspaper in Southern Sudan

2011-05-06

The point is not freedom of information, it´s that they don´t like to be criticized. Most of them used to be in the army and they haven´t developed a proper idea of government yet. We all are tied to our traditional tribal schemes, but nowadays this system is collapsing and there´s no real alternative on the horizon. Nihal Bol is one of the most prominent journalists in Juba, a scathing voices against those who are in power in Southern Sudan. Because of his articles about Southern Sudan´s emerging leadership, he was imprisoned for three times with no specific charges. He directs the Citizen, which is not only the first free newspaper to be printed in Southern Sudan, but also the only publication in the new nation so far: an indispensable voice for a country that aspires to be defined as a democracy.

Southern Sudan - Christians in Southern Sudan

2011-05-01

An Arab and Islamic society in the north of the country, a black and Christian one in the south: with this scheme the Sudanese civil war used to be described abroad. Reality, however, is much more complex and rich in nuances, although during the civil war (1982-2005) the Catholic Church, its medical facilities and schools were undoubtedly a vital reference point for the people living in the south. The Church played as well a crucial role in the awareness process towards the secession referendum on January 9th. Despite the skepticism of politicians, diplomats and social analysts, clergymen did their best to make the referendum come true and to explain the importance of the vote as a means of freedom and justice. Today, the Church is determined to continue playing a crucial role in the birth of the new nation.

Die Zeit - Germany - Libya: Secret Mission

2011-04-21

Libya - New rebel media

2011-04-16

The original spark of the Libyan revolution in Cyrenaica ― just like in Egypt and Tunisia ― can mainly be found in social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. In Benghazi young people were the ones to give the starting signal of the protest and now it´s up to them to run the new media system: an independent voice that has emerged after decades of censorship. Libyan first free newspaper, called Libya Al Horreya (Free Libya), was founded a few weeks ago: its editorial unit is in Mahkama Square, in a building where a new web tv is also based. The new free radio airs the most negative criticism towards Gaddafi's regime, while his image has become the main target of satirical graffiti painted on every city wall.

The Vision - Agency Showreel 2011

2011-04-14

Parallelozero stands out in the international market with reportages shot by our experienced photojournalists all over the world. In photojournalism documenting areas of crisis, as well as in geographical and anthropological photography, the narration of places is deeply linked to the people who live there, to urban dwellings, social communities, and the private lives of individuals: in one world, to stories. Parallelozero was also among the first editorial companies producing multimedia reportages. “The medium is the message” wrote Marshall McLuhan. A concept that fits perfectly into Parallelozero’s multitasking vision. Our in-depth, documentary-style reportages are made with texts, pictures, video footage and soundtracks. They are communication products in which our core business, the photographs, maintain all their visual and expressive force, that of an instant frozen in time, but are immensely enriched by the fluidity of video and the emotional power of sound.

Libya - Revolution

2011-04-11

Internazionale - Italy - Lampedusa

2011-04-08

Avvenire - Italy - Sergio Ramazzotti and Sky - Sos Lampedusa

2011-04-07

Sos Lampedusa: Parallelozero and Sky Italy team up to tell the migrants plight

2011-04-06

After the 2010 documentary series on Afghanistan, Parallelozero photojournalist Sergio Ramazzotti and Sky TV Italy correspondent Fabio Caressa teamed up again to tell the plight of the migrants on Lampedusa, the southern Italian islet invaded by thousands of boat people coming from north African coasts. While Caressa, on Lampedusa, describes the chaos that reigns on the island since the beginning of the uprising in Tunisia, Ramazzotti, at the border between Libya and Tunisia, manages to infiltrate the network of human traffickers and tells the whole story of the migrants’ exploiters. An exceptional documentary, on the air Thursday April 7th at 22.05 on Sky Uno. Click here for the preview.

India - E-Waste, the illegal computer recycling in Delhi

2011-04-02

India is one of the most electronic waste-polluted countries worldwide, with a huge amount of e-waste, both locally produced and imported from abroad, and a recycling system which is far from being well-regulated. In spite of recent regulations on this issue, almost all the waste is processed with no protective measures and no central organization. Although Indian government banned the import of hazardous waste, tons of e-waste enter the country every week. Most of the computers and electronic devices are dismantled by family businesses, usually illegal, that lack any security awareness. Electronic devices are materially dismantled in some neighborhoods in Delhi, while in the outskirts of the city is where single components are chemically processed with acids and other chemical substances.

L'Europeo - Italy - The daily adventure - Special issue on Ettore Mo and Luigi Baldelli

2011-04-02

YACHT CAPITAL - SOMALIA ANTIPIRACY

2011-04-01

Brazil - Two wheels, one ambulance

2011-03-29

São Paulo, one of the most chaotic cities in Brazil: 11 million inhabitants, seven million vehicles, hundreds of accidents and episodes of violent criminality which leave casualties on the streets every day. The terribly congested traffic makes it impossible for a conventional ambulance to reach an emergency scene within an acceptable time lapse. Thus, the fire brigade, which also runs the mobile accident unit service, has found an ingenious solution: it has transformed motorbikes into ambulances. Their ability to get on an emergency site within ten minutes is a vital support to police medevac helicopters and ordinary ambulances on four wheels.

Afghanistan - The double life of the General

2011-03-21

General Khatool Mohammadzai is 45, is a parachutist with 572 jumps, and has been wearing the Afghan Army´s uniform for 30 years. And, most of all, she is a woman. During her career, she has faced death more than once, she had to spend years confined at home during the Taliban regime, she had to bury her husband, killed during the Soviet war. Yet, she managed to become the country´s only woman general. Today, she has a desk job at the Ministry of Defense in Kabul. When she goes home every night, she changes in civilian clothes, buys rice and groceries at the local bazaar, and she cooks dinner for her son and her nephews, who sometimes spend the night at her place. She made her last parachute jump in 2006, during a military parade in Kabul, and ever since she´s been longing for the time when I will be able to jump again in security.

BRIGITTE GERMANY - AFGHANISTAN, THE DOUBLE LIFE OF THE GENERAL

2011-03-14

PARALLELOZERO PRESENTS ITS NEW PHOTOGRAPHERS - Tuesday 22nd of March, 7.00 pm

2011-03-11

MiCamera, via Medardo Rosso 19, Milan - From 7.00 pm

Parallelozero is proud to present the five new photographers who joined the agency in 2010. Francesco Alesi, Luigi Baldelli, Simone Cerio, Adelaide Di Nunzio and Marco Gualazzini have all been chosen for their style, their journalistic attention and their storytelling skills, characterized by the power and sensibility that have always been Parallelozero's peculiarities.
We invite you to check out their latest works and to meet them in person in Milano on Tuesday, March 22nd, at MiCamera Gallery, Via Medardo Rosso 19, from 7.00 pm. The event will also be hosted by Gianmarco Maraviglia, Parallelozero General Manager, and Sergio Ramazzotti, one of the founders of the agency, that will explain - among other things - the guidelines to submit a candidature for the 2011 selection of new photographers.

Die Zeit - Germany - Libya revolution

2011-03-09

Famiglia Cristiana - Italy - Libya: if the wall comes down

2011-03-09

Ireland - God bless ya

2011-03-03

The Irish Travellers are one of the strongest Catholic communities in the world. Irish Travellers were a nomadic family-based group trading horses and tools with farmers in rural areas of Ireland. Since the country became more and more mechanized, they lost their economic role and travelling became less convenient. Hence they became more settled and their lifestyle began to adapt to the new condition. Among Travelling people religion has always played a vital role and nowadays their adherence to Catholic morals is still one of the most stringent worldwide. The way Travellers experience faith is far from being intimate and discreet, as the Christian moderation does not hinder their vitality and exuberance. This photo-reportage is a result of a whole summer spent in Ireland moving from campsites to churches, to holy wells, to shrines.

Afghanistan - Italian Army in Afghanistan

2011-02-28

Italian troops in Afghanistan amount to almost four thousand. They are basically located in the western and south-western part of the country, and man strongholds such as Bala Murghab, the Zirko Valley and Bala Baluk, in the heart of Taliban land. They work hard to put into practice the new counterinsurgency doctrine. But they have to work just as hard to defend themselves.

Ecuador - Lago Agrio, where oil kills the Amazon

2011-02-28

Lago Agrio, in the Ecuadorian Amazon forest, is the capital city of the northern province of Sucumbíos. An ancestral land of the Cofan and Siona Secoya indians, where, in the mid Sixties, large oil reserves have been discovered and soon exploited by oil companies such as Chevron and, later on, Texaco. Since the 1970´s, the impact of oil wells and extensive drilling has been devastating: heavy pollution of rivers and land, a strong increase of cancer rate, natives uprooted from their villages. Following a long class action, on February 15th, 2011, Texaco was obliged to compensate 30 thousand inhabitants of the Sucumbíos province who called themselves Los Afectados, the Sick Ones - with 8.6 billion U.S. dollars. Pablo Fajardo, thier attorney, estimates that more than 2,000 people have died of tumors caused by oil waste-related pollution.

SPORTWEEK-AFGHANISTAN: WATER POLO IN HELMAND

2011-02-26

Morocco - The last survivor of Tibhirine

2011-02-21

Father Jean-Pierre was the custodian monk of the monastery during the kidnapping and killing of the seven monks of Tibhirine, in Algeria, on March 1996. Together with father Amédée, they were the only survivors of the slaughter which, after 15 years, is still shrouded in mystery. But the memory of Tibhirine and the killed monks goes well beyond the political matters of the civil war and the Islamic terrorism. It survives thanks to books and movies, but especially through the direct words of Jean-Pierre, the last living monk. Father Jean-Pierre, together with Amedée who died two years ago , has left Algeria in order to continue his monastic life on the highlands of the Atlas in Morocco, where Trappists have moved their Notre Dame of the Atlas new monastery. Jean-Pierre is nowadays the last connection between these two places.

Italy - Campania d´Africa

2011-02-16

Castel Volturno is a city of 25,000 inhabitants 40kms north of Naples. It is a unique town: it has the highest percentage of Africans in Europe. According to official statistics, 10 per cent of its population comes from Africa. But according to the Caritas Centre at least 10,000 (or even 15,000) Africans live in the city. Mostly young, male, poor and paperless sub-Saharians, who live in the degraded suburbs of the town. They usually wake up at 4,30 am to get the first bus to the roundabouts of Naples where they might get a job for 25 euros a day. For the Italian Government they are just illegal to be repatriated, while best-selling Italian writer Roberto Saviano defines them as an asset for Italy. In 2008 the South African singer Miriam Makeba died in Castel Volturno after her last concert. She died in Africa commented her relatives

France - Francesco Alesi is one of the 3 photographers chosen for Visas de l'ANI 2010

2011-02-14

Francesco Alesi, one of our new photographers, is one of the three authors chosen for the Visas de l'ANI 2010 prize, an award given by the French Iconographic National Association. The board (Frédérique Babin : LE MONDE MAGAZINE Mathieu Charon : FNAC Dominique Deschavannes : CONTACT PRESS Ferit Duzyol : SIPA PRESS Agnès Grégoire : PHOTO Elizabeth Hering : PICTO Barbara Herrmann : STERN Karine Larue : RSF), will announce the final winner on August 31st in Perpignan during the 23rd Visa pour l’Image festival. Francesco Alesi's work “Campania d’Africa” will be also exhibited in September in Paris at Bar Floreal.

For more images and info: www.ani-asso.fr/les-laureats-des-visas-de-lani-2010/#more-956 – Paris Gallery: www.bar-floreal.com

Montenegro - Montenegro, five years of independance

2011-02-10

A tiny country squeezed between the mountains and the sea. The ex-Jugoslavia years, and a political heritage difficult to wipe away. The years of economic sanctions and commercial embargo. The state´s bankruptcy. The long and ill-fated alliance with Serbia. Finally, in 2006, the declaration of independence. Portrait of a newborn republic, which for the past five years has been struggling to walk on its own legs, and which desperately wants to join the European Union.

Alessandro Gandolfi's picture participating at National Geographic photoexhibition in Rome.

2011-02-09

A picture taken by Alessandro Gandolfi in Brasil, along the Sertao coast, will be showing at "I colori del mondo", a photoexhibition that National Geographic Magazine , Italian edition, is organizing in Rome, at Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Spazio Fontana), from February 12th to May 1st. 95 images shot by 48 photographers, 4 of wich are italians.

Free entrance. Info line 06.39967500. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: 10 - 20; Friday, Saturday: 10 - 22.30; Sunday: 10 - 20; Monday: closed

India - Vrindavan, the City of Widows

2011-02-08

Vrindavan, in the district of Uttar Pradesh, is a center of Krishna worship. Traditionally, is it considered as an idle place for elder people to live, but it is also known as the City of Widows, as over 5.000 widows live here in extreme poverty. Hindu society rejects women when their husbands die, which means widows are forced to leave their homes by their own family. Vrindavan widows live in makeshift shelters or in ashrams (Hindu spiritural hermitages), where they worship Krishna through singing and dancing and they are given charity, a dish of rice or a few rupees. The white clothes of these hundreds of women dominate the city view, mixing with Indian or foreign pilgrims visiting the place where Krishna spent his childhood.

Figaro Magazine - France - The last survivor of Thiberine

2011-02-07

Bolivia - Urubichà, the baroque orchestra of the Guarayos

2011-02-03

Urubichà is a small village located in the North East of Bolivia where about 6000 Guarayos people still live peacefully. This region has always been considered the land of music, and that's why right here lives and plays the locally famous Baroque Orchestra of Urubichà, a band of over 50 young boys and firls who usually play Bach and Vivaldi. The orchestra and its chorus were officially born in 1996 thanks to a Franciscan priest, Walter Neuwirth, but rather than a birth this was a return, because already in the 1700 the Jesuits had easily discovered the passion of the Guarayos for baroque music. Now-a-days during the classrooms, young Urubichà kids learn how to play baroque and sacred music, meanwhile walking down the dusty streets of the village, hand-crafted string instruments can be found at every corner.

Colombia - The travelling school

2011-02-03

Luis Humberto Soriano is a 38 years old primary school teacher who lives in La Gloria, a small town in northeastern Colombia. From Monday to Friday, Soriano teaches in the rural school of La Gloria. But on weekends he loads his two donkeys, Alfa and Beto, with mathematics, history, geography and grammar books and heads out for the countryside. There he gives lessons to the kids living on the farms scattered on the hills surrounding La Gloria, who do not have the chance to go to normal school because of long distance and poor economic conditions. This is the Biblioburro, the travelling school. After 10 years this has become an extarordinary institution in this part of Colombia.

China - China Skiing

2011-02-02

Want to enjoy skiing in China? First of all forget everything you might know abou ski in France´s Chamonix or Italy´s Cortina d´Ampezzo. This is another world. The resorts that have grown around Beijing have slow lifts and icy slopes, usually covered with artificial snow. And while resort planners try to convince you that you are in the Alps, the results are miles away from european standards. Here the local scene is made of bumpy nursery slopes crowded with first-time skiers and lousy ski lifts. Researchs show that chinese skiers are extremely parsimonious and that the massive boom expected by local and foreign developers, has still a long way to go.

Antartide - Manila Glam

2011-01-11

The capital of the Philippines is an unexpected treasure of style and flair. The city is in its fullest growth and has a bright and lively social, cultural and economic life. Gigantic shopping malls pop up in the 16 metropolitan areas who make Manila one of the most densely populated megalopolis in the world (with an estimated population of 15,000,000 inhabitants). Brand new skyscrapers and exclusive residential districts are being designed and built. Fashion, beauty and finance are the solid pillars which makes life in the capital go round. New designers, artists, as well as local and foreign investments, an old grounded establishment made of wealthy influential Filipino families, a new group of Asian and Chinese entrepreneurs, make the city a new melting pot for long term perspectives.

Antartide - Seven Billion Baby

2011-01-10

The world population reached seven billion at 11.55 PM on October 30th, 2011: at that time, little Danica May Camacho, daughter of Florante Camacho and Camille Dalura, was born in a Manila hospital. According to the United Nations, she is the seven billionth human being on Earth: her parents, who received a small sum of cash as a reward, live in a slum and form the typical lower-class Filipino family. The mother, unemployed after losing her job in a call center, is 23 and has already given birth four times. The father, also 23, works as a driver three half-days a week. And both, although happy, are now terribly worried about their future: like most of Manila´s 19 million inhabitants.

Libya - Journey to Misrata

2011-01-09

We leave Benghazi on a small ship heading west, few miles away from the Cirenaica coastline. Few hours later we manage to land at Misrata harbour: despite the port has been heavily damaged by Gaddafi´s tanks, we find a safe spot to anchor. It´s nightime. We are visiting the third largest city in Libya - which has been under siege and isolated for about six weeks now trying to give support to the rebels who are still fighting against Gaddafi´s army. We unload dozens of wooden boxes containing no weapons nor food, but money. Tons of money. The ship is loaded with dozens of millions of euros. It´s been weeks since people got their last salary - minister Tarhouni explained - Gaddafi wants to cripple this city. We want to bring our city back to its daily life: and for that, we don´t just need weapons, but money as well.

GENTE - AFGHANISTAN'S GENERAL MOHAMMADZAI

2011-01-03

Sette/Corriere della Sera - Italy - Chad

2010-12-22

ZENITH GERMANY - ICRC KABUL

2010-12-20

Israel - The rebirth of Jerusalem

2010-12-19

Jerusalem is not only the Me'a She'arim, the Jewish quarter frozen in the nineteenth century. Like many of the international tourism capitals, Jerusalem welcomes visitors with its new look: the Calatrava bridge, which recalls the harp of King David, for example, is just one of the symbols of the unstoppable modernization. If Tel Aviv has remained a provincial town, a cynical, sometimes exaggerated, Jerusalem - with its 700 thousands inhabitants, one third of which are Arabs - tries to be more mature and cosmopolitan. After the end of the second intifada, the lively city is more and more vivacious. Young people liven up the streets and night spots in the new trendy fashion neighborhoods, while even among the Orthodox, many young men party until late. With their stylish side-folded Borsalino

Italy - Fighting the Mafia

2010-12-16

Today the violence and terrorism spread by the Sicilian Mafia over the 90´s which allowed the Calabrian organized crime to reach the heights of the national power later on seem nothing but a distant memory. Yet, the latest news let us imply that organized crime is still very active in the deep Calabrian South. Today, the Ndrangheta is regarded as the most influential criminal organization in Italy and day by day it dramatically creeps into our social and economic system, getting benefit from a series of strong family ties. Crime the most important antimafia investigation of the last decade, shed light on the real nature of the Ndrangheta. In this investigation the help of the Calabrian people was crucial. They have never given up fighting against crime, thwarting fear and intimidation with the simple gestures of the everyday life.

Italy - Ciro and his brothers, dinosaurs

2010-12-13

Zoic is a worldwide leader company (and one of the few in the world) in the creation of dinosaur models. Founded by Flavio Bacchia and directed by his daughter Giorgia, some of the Zoic creations are exhibited at the British Museum in London, at the National Museum in Tokyo as well as at Museum of Science in Boston. Zoic has also restored the skeleton of Antonio the oldest and most complete skeleton of an Hadrosaurid in Europe now exhibited at the Civic Museum of Natural History in Trieste. During the early Jurassic, Italy was just a small sea where dinosaurs used to pass through: it´s proven by the marks found in Trentino, Friuli, Lazio and Puglia. Ciro was the first Italian dinosaur and the best conserved in the world. It was discovered by chance in a rock dump in Pietraroja.

Djibouti - Sailing with the whale sharks

2010-12-10

The Gulf of Tadjoura is a geographic funnel, a boiling water stretch flowing in the Ghoubbet, an internal sea framed by Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. A liquid world where whale sharks come to mate every winter surrounded by lava rocks, tons of plancton, deserted beaches and hot temperatures. The republic of Djibouti is a dusty and windy land which still survives between the end of the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa. A mythical place, forgotten by the world, in which the colonial epopee, the maritime trade and the wild frontiers feeling still rexist. Amongst military bases, carovane of trucks coming from Ethiopia and anti pirates protection units, it is possible to travel by land and sea discovering salted lakes, rocky islands, canyons (here begins the Rift Valley) and fiords. In a perfect and quite sea world.

Qui Touring - Italy - Dominican Republic

2010-12-08

Chad - The Refugees Hotel

2010-12-08

Eastern Chad, on the border with Darfur. In the past few years, thousands of refugees and displaced people have turned up here fleeing from the war. They're jobless, and have no food for their children. The few reference points are the therapeutic centres run by Coopi - an Italian NGO - in the villages of Goz Beida and Koukou. The Sudanese refugees and the displaced Chadians bring their undernourished children here to be examined by the doctors. However, many camps full of desperate people who have nowhere to go, have sprung up around these areas. Every man, kid or woman who requires some kind of treatment, will remain here. Despite all, they sleep outside, they cook whatever they manage to find and they hope for a better life; they wash their clothes and sweep the empty courtyards. The Coopi centres have become their new home.

Io Donna - Italy - Lao Pop Culture

2010-12-06

United States - Austin, live music capital of the world

2010-12-06

Austin, Texas, is the capital of live music. Nowhere else a city has such a high number of live music clubs. And you realize it as soon as you land by plane: bands playing blues and country music in three different areas of the airport. In Austin live music is played in almost every bar: punk, folk, jazz, indie rock. So in an arid, conservative and a bit plastered Texas, this small town with one of the largest universities in the U.S. is a beacon of the American eclectic liberalism. Some years ago, Money Magazine named Austin the "best place to live": the city has only three murders every 100.000 inhabitants. "Austin?" a boy tells me, "after California and the East Coast is America's third coast...".

China - Ordos, a Ghost Town

2010-12-03

The Kangbashi district began as a public-works project in Ordos, a wealthy coal-mining town in Inner Mongolia. The area is filled with office towers, administrative centers, government buildings, museums, theaters, middle-class duplexes and bungalows. Meant as home for one million people, the Kangbashi district remains nearly empty five years after the construction began. All built by local developers in the hope that Ordos' recently riches will buy the places to be near the new center of power, the residents are supposed to move to the brand new modern Ordos, but they can't really move to a city where there is no economy. Despite all this, the Ordos government is still planning to expand Kangbashi: thousands of villas and apartment towers stretch into the distance.

National Geographic Italy - Terramare

2010-12-01

Focus - Italy - Ray Bouba - Cameroun

2010-12-01

Afghanistan - Italy at war

2010-12-01

Three thousand men from the Italian Army garrison one of the most dangerous areas in Afghanistan: the valleys of Musahi, Farah, Bala Baluk and Bala Murghab, strongholds of the Taliban movement. Officially they're on a peace mission: but the truth is that, in order to keep the peace, or just simply to support the Afghan army busy with the distribution of humanitarian aid, it's often necessary to shoot in order defend oneself.

Albania - The Kanun Code

2010-11-25

The Kanun is a set of traditional Albanian laws which can be traced back to the middle of the 15th century, developed by Alexander Dukagjini, hero of the Albanian resistance against the Turks. The Kanun is an extremely brutal code, used to rule many aspects of the public and private life of the Albanians. Article 125 of the Kanun says: All the male members of the murderer's family, including babies, cousins and nephews, even if separated, may be targeted by the revenge. If a member of one's family has been murdered, it is necessary to take revenge on the murderer or on the male members of his family. The murderer may go out at night, but must always hide himself during the day. Today, more than 300 families of the country are affected by the Kanun.They all have one way only to survive: remain at home for the rest of their life.

The Enzo Baldoni Prize goes to Sergio Ramazzotti

2010-11-22

Prallelozero photojournalist Sergio Ramazzotti won for the second time one of Italy's most prestigious photojournalism awards, the Enzo Baldoni Prize, created by the Province of Milano in memory of Italian journalists killed in war zones. The prize was awarded to Ramazzotti's latest photographic book, Afghanistan 2.0, published in Italy by Leonardo International. The jury was composed by Natalia Aspesi (of the daily La Repubblica), Maurizio Belpietro (editor in chief of the daily Libero), Ferruccio De Bortoli (editor in chief of Corriere della Sera), Paolo Ruffini(editor in chief of national TV channel Rai3), Giovanni Morandi (editor in chief of the daily Il Giorno), Giorgio Mulè (editor in chief of the weekly Panorama), Enrico Mentana (editor in chief of national news channel TGLA7) e Gianni Riotta (editor in chief of the daily Il Sole 24 ore). www.provincia.milano.it/news/premio_baldoni/index.html

Israel - Mediterranean style

2010-11-19

The symbol is Tel Aviv, a hundred year old city that has made fun its mission. But overlooking the Mediterranean ports, there are also ports which have united Europe with the Middle East. Like Caesarus, which was built by Herod the Great. Like Akko, the antique San Giovanni of Acri, with its underground city which during the centuries has hosted merchants and Crusaders. Or like Haifa, one of the economic capitals of Israel, where today you can dine in the restaurants of the German colony just two steps away from the gardens of the Baha'i faith. Buses unload tourists, attracted by the mild climate from all over the world onto these beaches. And after the wild nights in the former Tel Aviv warehouses which have been converted into nightclubs, the only one way to rest is to head for the most famous natural spa in the world: the Dead Sea.

Famiglia Cristiana - Italy - Le Erbe di Fra' Fiorenzo

2010-11-17

Slow Food Magazine - Italy - Colombia

2010-11-16

Chad - Forgetting Chad

2010-11-04

After years of civil wars, Chad suffers infantile malnutrition, it is stricken by drought and desertification and it is invaded by hundreds of thousands refugees from Central Africa and Sudan. The international community which is always focusing on nearby Darfur, has forgotten Chad and in 2011 the United Nations military forces are going to abandon the country. A premature move out they say from the UNHCR because the risk that Al-Qaida will infiltrate the country is real. Chad nevertheless remains a politically stable country, with reinforced power coming from the proceeds of oil extraction. This wealth however does not get redistributed and, while 80% of the population lives under the poverty line. We often feel abandoned in Chad once said the Chadian film director Mahamat Saleh Haroun.

Slow Food Magazine - Italy - USA: on the footsteps of the Anasazi

2010-11-03

South Korea - Trendy Seoul

2010-10-29

Seoul, a city synonymous with unchecked urban development is growing 'green'. Besides the restored Cheonggyecheon, the city has recently developed Seoul Forest, and a clean-running transit system is taking Seoulites off their cars. New museums including the Leeum, which houses Samsung's corporate art collection are opening. "Now we try to achieve a balance between function and environment" Mayor Lee says. Such forward thinking transformed South Korea from one of the poorest countries in Asia to an advanced high-tech economy that's home to major tech firms like Samsung and LG, as well as the most wired population on the planet..Bars at a junction in Myeongdong district.

France - Superstars, the next Formula One

2010-10-25

The overtaking, door bashing, extreme cornering, ten cars in less than a second. And those close-call finishes which aren't seen in Formula One any more.... With these words, the manager, Vincenzo Lamaro, sums up the appeal of Superstars, the car race which is winning more and more fans from around the world. What's the difference with Formula One racing? Well, in Superstars, the vehicles are just modified series cars, sold in car showrooms everywhere, the same which our fans drive. But this isn't the only reason. For a more spectacular effect, the Superstars races, which host Formula One pilots and have nine different car models competing, only last twenty minutes.

Sergio Ramazzotti and Fabio Caressa together in Afghanistan for a Sky documentary on the Italian mission

2010-10-22

Parallelozero photojournalist Sergio Ramazzotti and Sky correspondant Fabio Caressa are the protagonists of an exceptional documentary on the Italian mission in Afghanistan produced by Sky TV Italy. The two journalists spent several weeks embedded with the Italian forces, visiting all the FOB’s, from Herat to Farah, Shindand, Bala Murghab and Bala Baluk, to document the daily life of Italian soldiers operating in the country. The result is an 8-episode documentary, never before produced in Italy, which, alternating moments of extraordinary intimacy and great tension, goes deep into the reality of the difficult, and often tragic, Italian mission in Afghanistan. On the air every Thursday on Sky Uno, starting October 28, 2010.

Afghanistan 2.0 by Sergio Ramazzotti arrives in the bookstores

2010-10-22

Afghanistan 2.0 is the title of Parallelozero photojournalist Sergio Ramazzotti’s latest photographic book, published in Italy by Leonardo International and available in all Italian bookstores. In 144 pages of images and words, the author, who’s been regularly covering Afghanistan for the past ten years, has collected ten exceptional stories which, with incredibile depth and narrative force, depict a surprising country, extremely different from the way we’ve been accustomed to imagine it. The volume features a series of glimpses of hope which powerfully dismantle the Western stereotypes about Afghanistan, and show a country where not everything is lost yet, where hopes for a normal future are still possible, and whose population desperately calls for help so that they may become real one day.

Afghanistan - Soccer in Afghanistan

2010-10-20

Soccer is one of the most popular sports in Afghanistan. Yet, as for any other discipline, until recently the country hasn´t had neither the time nor the strenght to build up a generation of athletes: during the last three decades, the activity more intensely pursued or endured by the population has been war. But things have changed: in Kabul's Ghazi stadium, on the very field that was used by the Taliban for public executions, the soon-to-come national soccer team is slowly selecting its champions.

Espresso - Italy - War in Afghanistan

2010-10-15

Togo - Nana Benz, an African epopee

2010-10-07

They started off from nothing in the Fifties and became amongst the richest in their homeland, Togo. They're the Nana Benz, the women who sell traditional African fabrics. Particularly the sought-after wax which is printed in Holland. They've made a fortune, they've travelled the world over, becoming a reference point for the fabric trade in Western and Central Africa. They were the first to purchase what, at the time, was a real status symbol: the Mercedes Benz. Hence their name. Today their fame has waned a little. And the economic crisis has affected them too. Turnover has dropped, but they're still here, together with their daughters the Nanette, - to whom they've entrusted their work. You can find them in the Grand Marché in Lomé or in the boutiques around the city. Keeping always an eye on their businesses.

Thailand - The Bangkok Attraction

2010-10-05

In Bangkok prostitution it´s a thriving industry. One estimate published in 2003 placed the sex trade in Thailand at US$ 4.3 billion per year or about three percent of the Thai economy and the number of sex workers from 80.000 to two million women and men. The people who benefit from their services, the foreign tourists, has grown from 80.000 in 1960 to a staggering 3 million people 25 years later. It all started with the Vietnam war, when suddendly the demand for young women skyrocketed. After the war was over, somebody figured that the same infrastructure of hotels, restaurants, bars, and brothels that made things so comfortable in Thailand for American servicemen could accommodate scores of restless Western travelers eager for sun and sex

Uganda - The King of the Rains

2010-10-05

At 5,109 meters, the Rwenzori is the third highest mountain in Africa, but forms part of the most complex and intricate African mountain chain. It has six different peaks, each with its own glacier, which represent an enormous fresh water reserve, also able to nourish the Nile basin as Ptolemy asserted more than 2,000 years ago. Its name means rain maker and its peaks are perennially surrounded by mists which enhance its beauty and mystery. The massif was linked with the legendary Mountains of the Moon, which explorers went in search of, hoping to find the source of the Nile. Because of its unique ecosystem, it has been included as a UNESCO world heritage. It was conquered on the 18th June, 1906, by Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of the Abruzzi. Photos and text by Bruno Zanzottera

Parallelozero at Rome Photography Festival - September 23rd/October 24th

2010-09-30

Parallelozero will be present at FotoGrafia, Rome's international photography festival that will be held at the Macro Testaccio museum from September 23rd to October 24th, 2010, with two major agency projects. The first is a delicate feature by Alessandro Gandolfi, who photographed Gaza's Palestinians athletes (disabled by landmines and the Israelo-Palestinian conflict) training in different disciplines for the 2012 London Paralympic games. The second is a photographic book which, with an innovative graphic project conceived by Parallelozero's designers, depicts in 300 large-format pages a quasi-metaphysical journey made by our photojournalist Sergio Ramazzotti, who traveled undercover in North Korea. Other info on: www.fotografiafestival.it

Algeria - Tibhirine monastery, Life after Terror

2010-09-26

May, 1996. Near Medea (Algeria) the discovery of the severed heads of seven Trappist monks, kidnapped from the nearby monastery of Tibhirine by the GIA three months earlier. A massacre which is still shrouded in mystery, notwithstanding the fact that the French government has recently decided to declassify important documents. In spite of the weight of such a tragedy, the monastery still exists the only one in a country like Algeria which is exclusively Muslim thanks to the work of a French priest, Jean Marie Lassausse, who continues to toil the land with the help of the same people who worked with the monks. A sign of loyalty to that place and that which it symbolises: the possibility of contact and dialogue with the Muslim world, which occurs via simple, everyday gestures, such as work and prayer.

United States - Louisiana: back to work in the Gulf?

2010-09-24

Five years ago, Katrina brought us to our knees explains Kindra Arnesen, wife of an unemployed fisherman but we had knowledge of our enemy, confronted him, and rebuilt everything. The BP disaster, on the other hand, is a blow to the heart.... Up until now, nearly 17 thousand people have lost their jobs. Caused by a leak from an oil platform on the 20th April, 2010, the biggest American environmental disaster has ruthlessly damaged the fish market of Louisiana, the state which supplies a third of all American seafood. For how many years to come will it be impossible to fish for crayfish, crabs, oysters? Today, nobody knows. What's certain is that the true victims of this disaster are the workers, the fishermen, the local tradesmen, the hotel owners and the shopkeepers. Which it will be difficult for BP to compensate completely.

Western Sahara - Women on the front line

2010-09-09

The Sahrawi are a totally Arab, Sunni Muslim peoples. However, their way of practising religion is more lax with respect to other populations. Perhaps because it has a more feminine´ contour. The camp organisation is mainly down to the women such as Nuena, who fled from Western Sahara in 1976, under the Moroccan bombs. Her husband was killed and she arrived in the camp with nothing to her name. The other women and I had to tear our veils in order to cover our children´ she explains. Nuena also lost her second husband in war and a third was injured. But, notwithstanding this, she is still an extremely dynamic woman. We women have accepted the challenge to take on important responsibilities in the State's new facilities, to create a future for our children and to transmit the pride of belonging to this peoples´.

Gulf of Guinea - The slave coast

2010-09-07

In the four centuries after the discovery of the Americas, between 10 and 15 million human beings were wrenched away from Africa and loaded like animals on slave ships, to be sold in the New World. The commerce along the coasts of the Gulf of Guinea was of such dimensions so as to earn the name of Slave Coast. Here, the Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, English and Brandenburg colonists constructed an incredible series of forts and castles, which for centuries were the only permanent European structures in the continent. These fortifications are unique in the world due to their concentration, and which today represent the historical memory of that period, when the civilized´ European nations carried out one of the most barbaric crimes against humanity with regards to the African populations.

Turkey - Hierapolis, the Roman spa

2010-09-06

Straddled between the Anatolian and Mediterranean worlds, Hierapolis the Holy was a sight to behold with its marble temples and white travertine flows resembling waterfalls of snow. They are actually formed by the outflow of warm water which is rich in calcium carbonate. Because here, in the centre of Turkey, the territory is seismic and unstable, and the ancients were attracted by these phenomena. They considered them divine, worshipping the poisonous fumes and building temples for the oracles. Today it's the destination of hundreds of pilgrims (it is said that Philip the Apostle is buried here) as well as receiving one and a half million visitors a year. Who can't wait to dive into its warm water pools and swim amongst columns and capitals dating back two thousand years.

Western Sahara - A marathon in the Sahara

2010-09-05

The odyssey of the Saharawi peoples dates back to 1976, when Spain moved out of Western Sahara and Morocco occupied it. As they wait for a twenty-year-old referendum to take place, the situation is so surreal and stagnant that it's almost impossible to see a way out. The Saharawis proudly pursue the road of negotiation and peaceful action. And it's probably due to the lack of bloody terrorist actions that the international community doesn't seem too worried in finding a solution to the problem. Therefore, the only people who have any interest in the Saharawis are the humanitarian associations, which besides providing food aid, also organise cultural and sporting events. The Sahara Marathon is one of these, an annual event which sees athletes from the world over take part in a real marathon between refugee camps in the Algerian desert.

Kenya - African Cape Canaveral

2010-08-21

The African Cape Canaveral? It's in Malindi, Kenya, a few degrees south of the Equator, amongst sandy white beaches and coconut palms. Here, in the Sixties, the first European satellites were launched into orbit and for more than twenty years, Italy continued launching rockets into space. Then the Europeans moved to French Guiana and the African base was closed. Until a couple of years ago, when Malindi was reopened. The base is destined to expand in the future. Because Kenya is strategically important, even fundamental, for the land control of European, Chinese and Russian satellites and expendable launch systems. Not only: Kenya is within Africa the ideal location for space rocket launches, and there's talk of Malindi becoming the future launch site for the rockets belonging to the emerging African powers.

Italy - Turin, little capital

2010-08-10

A deforming vision of a city that, during the past ten years, has been able to change completely its public image, the perception of its metropolitan rhythms and its urban dimensions. A space interpretation that tries to emphasize the city geography, the social and architectonic contrasts, the historical influences, through misproportioned pictures that transform the usual relations between the man and the metropolis into a metaphysical work-in-progress. All photos has been shot with defocus and tilt shifting techniques, with post-production effects chosen to attract attention on details and significant subjects. A good way to put the city on a stage. A lively town that will celebrates, with a series of events for the whole 2011, its 150 years of being Italy´s little capital.

Sportweek - Italy - Surfing Gaza

2010-07-28

Il Venerdì di Repubblica - Kenya: space center

2010-07-21

IO Donna - Italy - Kenya fishermen

2010-07-19

Palestine - Surfing Gaza

2010-07-18

I've arranged to meet the guys on the beach in the afternoon, once they've finished work. There's a baker, a builder, a sardine fisherman and a student from Al-Azhar University. They smile as they stroll with their surfboards underarm, as if they were in Biarritz or California. But we're in Gaza, capital of the World's most tormented strip of land. In any case, the waves are the same here as they are twenty kilometres further north, in Israel explain these young men from the Gaza Surf Club as they pass by with their old surfboards, held together with adhesive tape and shoe glue. The situation in Gaza is desperate, this isolation has cut it off from the rest of the world and the Palestinians in the Strip are prisoners in their own home. This is why surfing is our escape route they explain, the only way we can dream of freedom.

Iraq - Baghdad - The last supper

2010-07-16

I recently developed photographs of people I never met, all shot in the same place in Baghdad, in 2003. The place was a panoramic restaurant on top of Saddam International Tower. I went there a few days after the war started. The tower was intact, but the building at the base had been torn apart by bombs. In a room that must have been the restaurant´s official photographer´s, I found many undeveloped photographic rolls. I took a bunch of them and stuffed them in my pockets. In the photographs you could see all the good Iraqi upper-middle class. Judging by their smiles, the perspective of war was still far away. Yet, if the photographer had not had the time to develop the rolls, the first bombs had to have begun falling soon. Who knows for how many of them, that merry moment might have been the last supper out.

Sette - Corriere della Sera - Gaza daily life

2010-07-13

Parallelozero at the Savignano Immagini photo festival 10/12 September - Portfolios reading

2010-07-13

Parallelozero will attend the Savignano Immagini photography festival, that will open on September 10th in this beautiful village in east Romagna, with an event dedicated to young photographers. During the festival our agency will organize infact portoflios' readings in order to search for new talented pofessionals for its new Nominees section. The readings will take place in the village main square on the September 11th and 12th. For info and subcripitons please visit: www.savignanoimmagini.it

Palestine - Gaza daily life

2010-07-12

They want to turn us into victims. But after the bombings I rebuild, clean and put things back in place. I want life to go on in Gaza, always. Maamon Khozendar, 56, an industrialist, is the symbol of a wealthy Gaza which doesn't believe in suffering. A Gaza which doesn't feel sorry for itself and which notwithstanding the embargo and the injustices carries on enjoying itself, playing sports, and leading a good life. Passing each day in the most normal way possible is our way of escaping the despair explains Ahmed Ferwana, 20: I'm angry, this is certain, but here in Gaza I have everything I need to live well. During the 2009 bombings, Ammar Al Yazegi, 27, lost part of his business: I'm lucky, some people lost everything. But from my studies in London I've learnt one thing: behind every crisis there's an opportunity."

Parallelozero at the Open Wound Festival of Santo Stefano al Mare (Imperia)

2010-07-12

Parallelozero will be present at the Open Wound international photography festival, which will be officially opened on July 27th, 2010, in the Italian seaside town of Santo Stefano al Mare (Imperia), with the premiere of The Interpreter, Sergio Ramazzotti's latest multimedia reportage. The movie, set in Iraq, tells in 33 adrenaline-packed minutes the story of the last seven years of a young Iraqi's life, forced to survive and reinvent his existance every day in a country destroyed by the coalition forces' takeover. The multimedia will be shown in piazza Scovazzi, in the heart of town, at 9.30 PM on July 30th.

Parallelozero's photographers at the Vsa Pour l'Image festival in Perpignan

2010-07-12

From August 28th to September 5th, the photographers of our agency will attend the Visa pour l'Image 2010 edition, the famous photojournalism festival that is held every year in Perpignan, France. They will meet up with partner agencies, international photoeditors and will show their latest reportages. For appointments please write in advance to: info@parallelozero.com

D/La Repubblica delle Done - Travel special issue

2010-07-03

Parallelozero selects submissions for its new nominees photographers section

2010-06-28

Photojournalism agency Parallelozero will select portfolios for its Nominees Photographers new branch.The selected photojournalists will obtain a one-year contract with our agency. During this period, they will be fully syndicated by Parallelozero and its partner agencies worldwide. After 12 months, Parallelozero will reserve the right to admit the candidates in its roster of official photographers. You can submit your candidature for the Nominees Photographers branch by writing to: submission@parallelozero.com.

Please attach portfolio, bio, website URL, publications and ongoing projects description (if any).

Nigeria - Africa International Film Festival

2010-06-21

In December, 2009, the ION film festival, an itinerant film festival, landed in Port Harcourt, capital of Nigeria's oil industry. The idea of the festival was to unite the World's three largest film producers: Hollywood, Bollywood and Nollywood, besides the aim to renew the image of the tormented Niger Delta region, infamous for the environmental deterioration caused by its oil activity and the presence of guerrilla groups demanding a fairer share of the oil wealth. Riding the wave of the festival's success, the governor of the Rivers State has decided to promote the Africa International Film Festival in Port Harcourt, an annual event which will be the showcase for Africa's film production.

Tanzania - An African Queen on Lake Tanganyika

2010-06-21

Lake Tanganyika is Africa's second largest lake and also the deepest in the heart of the Great Rift Valley. Burton and Speeke travelled its banks while searching for the source of the Nile River. The encounter between Livingstone and Stanley also took place here, where the famous phrase Doctor Livingstone I presume´ was uttered. However, the waters of this lake hold another part of Africa's history. The MV Liemba, built in Germany in 1913, disassembled in Dar Es Salaam and transported by rail to Kigoma, reassembled and put to work on the lake. She was sunk during the First World War then salvaged by the British in 1924. Since then, like a phoenix´ risen from the ashes, she is the only means of transportation which guarantees a ferry service for people and goods on the lake and is probably the oldest boat still in service in the world.

Palestine - Paralympic dream

2010-06-18

Wahed discus throw lost a leg during the Cast Lead Operation. Omar 100 meters lost his sight during the explosion of a landmine a couple of years ago. Abdul swimming - lost his leg in a car accident. Mohamed javelin is a paraplegic from birth.s. Wahed, Omar, Abdul, Mohamed and ten other Palestinian athletes are getting ready for the next Paralympic games to be held in London in 2012. However, they don't know if they'll ever be able to take part. Because they live in the Gaza Strip, one of the world's most tormented territories, under embargo for the past three years and literally isolated from the rest of humanity. Like all those who live in Gaza, even the athletes can't leave. They can hope to get an (impossible) permission from Israel. Or to go illegally through the Egyptian tunnels...

World - Madonna World Tour

2010-06-13

God does not exist, but Mary is His mother wrote George Santayana. From Europe to the Far East, from Africa to America and the Muslim world, here is the stunningly cross-sectional image of the Virgin, on altars, printed on fabrics sold in African markets, on souvenir stalls, on monuments, on the windshield of a taxi cab. Thus the Virgin, also venerated by Islam as the mother of one of Allah´s prophets, or by the Chinese who in the past decade have embraced the Christian cult more as a Western fashion than a religious doctrine, appears in the most diverse contexts, some of which surprising and absolutely non-consistent, revealing all the global power of Her icon. And, maybe, some sense of humour among Her followers.

North Korea - Maternity in North Korea

2010-06-11

In North Korea the child death rate is between 60 and 90 per thousand, ten times higher than in Europe. Hospitals have no heating during the winter and no cooling in summer, when the temperature reaches over 40 degrees celsius. Windows and doors can hardly be closed. Worse still, there are no medicines. After the devastating famine of the mid-nineties the population is chronically undernourished, and is an easy prey for any kind of disease. According to official figures, 17 percent of women giving birth weigh less than 45 kgs, a condition labeled dangerous by the World Health Organization. Independent sources claim the percentage could be three times higher. A situation much worse than in Sub-Saharian Africa.

GEOLINO GERMANY - MUSIC IN AFGHANISTAN

2010-06-05

United States - An Italian teacher in the Bronx

2010-06-03

Luca Avellini was once a broker in the City of London. Luxury journeys, cars and hotels were part of his daily routine. Then, one day he had a Damascus Road conversion. He left his job and moved to New York to start a new life as a teacher in an elementary school in the Bronx, with 74% of Hispanic and 24% of Afro-American children. I figured that after the 11th of September, the only way to create a better and more tolerant world was through the children recounts Luca, who is now the fully-fledged teacher of a group of angelic-looking devils who are convinced that their city is divided into 5 districts: The Bronx, New York, New Jersey, Miami and South America´.

Ghana - The glass beads game

2010-06-03

For centuries, the glass beads made in Murano and other European cities where brought into Africa by the merchants who used them as an exchange of goods for gold, ivory and slaves. Today, mosaic glass can be found all over Africa, but one peoples in particular, the Krobo of Ghana, have turned it into a real cult. Every Krobo clan jealously guards its oldest beads which are only worn for ritual occasions. The main ritual is the Dipo festival, the initiation rite which marks the passage of the girls into adulthood. The climax of the festival is when the girls, adorned with the glass beads which represent the total wealth of their families, dance around the city, showing off their beauty and that of their glass treasures.

Dominican Republic - The South-West at Haiti´s door

2010-06-03

Faraway from the beaches turned into a concrete jungle and from the noise of the all-inclusive vacationers, there is a pristine and spontaneous land made of forests, lakes, waterfalls and stretches of beaches never touched by tourists. The nearness to Haiti is palpable: the powerful Afro-American traditions of the other half of the island permeate the culture of the Dominican South-West part, Haitians work in the salt fields and mines of Iarimar, trade with cross border villages is thriving. The Dominican Republic shows a hidden face.

VSD FRANCE - THE MARTYRS OF TIBHIRINE

2010-06-02

A photograph from Parallelozero story "Footballing Africa" chosen for the cover of Sports Illustrated

2010-05-25

Sports Illustrated, United States' most prestigious sports weekly newsmagazine, has chosen a photograph from Parallelozero's story "Footballing Africa" for its end-of-May cover. The story, which describes with an extremely delicate language the passion of African people for soccer, and is syndicated in the U.S. by our partner agency Aurora, is one of our several collective works, shot by five of our photojournalists all over the African continent during various assigments.

Parallelozero at the third edition of Artèfoto festival

2010-05-24

Parallelozero is proud to be a significant presence at the third edition of Artèfoto Festival, one of the most prominent international photojournalism festivals in Italy, held from May 28th to June 6th in the stunning Castelli di Jesi, the countryside of Marche region. Our photojournalists will be hosting three events: Sergio Ramazzotti will present Afghanistan 2.0, his new photographic book out in September, 2010 published by Leonardo International. A video projection will be dedicated to Indian agency Trikaya, exclusively syndicated by Parallelozero in Italy. And our photojournalist Bruno Zanzottera will exhibit - and, on May 30th, personally guide visitors through - "Saharawi: the wall of shame", one of his latest works. For info on event schedule and location, www.artefotofestival.org.

VSD France - Surfing Gaza

2010-05-24

2010-05-12

Ramallah rebirth - TV Series

2010-05-03

Ramallah is changing. In the West Bank's main city, money, invested by the Palestinian diaspora, is flowing. Shopping centres, restaurants and buildings, where an apartment can cost up to 12 thousand dollars per square meter, are springing up everywhere. Luxury cars have appeared on the roads. The artistic side of things is also in ferment, thanks to new bands, dance schools and the most avant-garde disc jockeys and graffiti artists. And all this in spite of the wall built by Israel, which surrounds the city and makes it, as its inhabitants call it, “an open-air prison”. Run by a very special mayor. A Roman Catholic. And a woman.

Saudi Arabia - Wind of change from the Oil Empire

2010-04-29

Slight signs of change are beginning to be noticed in this traditionalist oil empire. Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, the Saudi king who came to power in 2005, is attempting to open the Nation to outside, 'infidel' eyes. Aware of the fact that a wealth based solely on oil extraction will not last forever, the enlightened ruler is steering his subjects towards a greater economic dynamism in order to make Saudi Arabia a modern state, modelled on the small, yet extremely active, Arab Emirates. As a result, even the princes, who up until now were only interested in squandering the oil proceeds, are turning into entrepreneurs, investing in different areas, amongst which the flourishing tourist industry. At the same time, a few unique reforms are slowly taking shape, such as the appointment of the first female minister.

Brazil - The forgotten Sertão

2010-04-28

It's the other Brazil, the anti-Amazon, the poorest and most arid region in Latin America. The Sertão, the Brazilian outback, is twice the size of England: part sea, part desert and part steppe, where life is hard and poverty is rife in the streets. Half of South America's poorest inhabitants live here, in the Sertão, a forgotten corner of Brazil. A land of toil, of farmers and breeders who cross their fingers each year, praying for the absence of two natural phenomena: the drought, then the deluge of rain. Fifteen million sertanejos live in this humble and underdeveloped land, but this has done nothing to dampen their spirits. Over the years, Sertão has become an epic metaphor, in literature as in real life. A metaphor of battle against death, of resistance against isolation, of an obstinate wish to build a future.

Great Britain - Liverpool 1960. The birth of the Beatles

2010-04-27

50 years on, the tale of the four lads from Liverpool has no intention of dying out. Every year, at the end of August, tens of tribute bands copying these famous Liverpudlians, assemble in their home town. In the city's many clubs, amongst which the renowned Cavern Club (demolished and rebuilt under public pressure) which was the stage for the Beatles first performances, we can meet numerous Johns, Pauls, Georges and Ringos from all around the globe, as they endlessly repeat their idols' repertoire. Some bring their fans from as far as Japan, complete with kimono, others take along their parents who launch themselves into frenzied rock 'n rolls, reliving their Beatles era. All mixed up with gigantic drinking sessions and vintage ambience.

West Papua - A Babel on the edge of the world

2010-04-27

Over the past 500 years, about half of the world´s languages have disappeared without us even noticing. 4% of the population speaks 60% of the World´s languages and these small linguistic islands are mainly clustered in tropical regions. Within this scenario, the large island of New Guinea stands out as a real Babel, with about 860 languages spoken by just 4 million inhabitants, a ratio of 1:5,000 between languages and people. If this ratio were to be reproduced in the United States, it would mean 50,000 languages being spoken. Every inhabitant of New Guinea speaks an average of 5 different languages and this is a guarantee of survival for a linguistic biodiversity which, under many aspects, is in danger. This reportage studies the Asmat, Dani and Yali tribes.

2010-04-09

Soccer in Africa isn't just about sport and leisure. It also represents a different perspective for your own future. Media are all focused on African soccer stars, whose success and popularity are often bigger than those of political leaders. Following these dreams of glory, millions of youngsters run after battered footballs on improvised dust fields, while from Cairo to Capetown, important matches may paralyze entire nations. A strong passion that is inversely proportional to the money Africa can afford to invest. That's why African football is forced to share the same destiny of the Black Continent: raw materials export. Nowadays African soccer is a gold mine that produces champions and sport fairy tales. But also disappointments and ruthless failures.

Western Sahara - Sahrawi, the wall of shame

2010-03-25

Peoples without land, a State without a nation. And a wall, 2,700 km of sand and stones, which for the past 35 years has kept a territory (Western Sahara) from its people (the Saharawi). This wall of walls is like a jagged scar: four, five, six piles which run parallel to each other in the Sahara Desert, strewn with more than five million landmines and controlled by 160,000 Moroccan soldiers. It was built in the Eighties to block the attacks by the Sahrawi militants and the return of the refugees. Today, this group lives in exile for the most part, just like its government. A mess caused by the Spanish decolonization, followed by the Moroccan invasion. The 200,000 people who fled from their homes in 1976, have been living for years in overcrowded refugee camps in the Algerian desert. Without water, food or adequate medical facilities.

United States - South Carolina, in the land of Gullah

2010-03-20

The last true African Americans live in a damp corner of the United States, straddled between Florida and Africa. They're the Gullah, descendants of the South Carolina slaves who escaped into the swamps and gave life to an African style society. The Gullah community has integrated with the rest of the nation, but has remained tied to its native heritage. The Gullah festival, conceived by 92 year old Rosalie Pazant, historic memory of the Gullah culture, enlivens Beaufort in May. Up until the Eighties she explains only anthropologists and linguists were interested in us Gullah. Then in 1986 I came up with the idea of the festival and today more than seventy thousand people come to take part each year.

Gioia - Italy - Istanbul

2010-03-15

Argentina - A funny faith

2010-02-22

Tierra Santa is a theme park not far from downtown Buenos Aires. A family favorite, it is unique in the world: its' theme is faith. For 30 pesos, you get to live a comprehensive experience that includes assisting to the Creation, witnessing the Apostles sharing the Last Supper with the Messiah, praying at a real scale reproduction of Jerusalem's Wailing Wall and watching five daily resurrections of a giant Jesus Christ ascending to the sky. And that's just a fraction of Tierra Santa's wide range of attractions, in front of which Argentinians behave as if they were in an actual holy site, lighting candles and praying on their knees.

Afghanistan - Kabulpedia

2010-02-20

Afghanistan has a long tradition of culture and passion for book reading. Before the Taliban went to power, Kabul was famous for its numerous bookstores, and Joishir Ketabfrushi, the bookstores' street, was a veritable treasure trove of rare books where university students and the city's intellighenzia gathered to read, hunt for hard-to-find titles and chat the day away sipping tea among the shelves. During the Taliban regime the bookstores were closed down, but many of their owners risked their life hiding the books to save them from destruction. Today they're finally back, in (almost) full glory.

Spain - Pilgrimage along the great Andalusian river

2010-02-20

In the sixteenth century, the Guadalquivir river was the centre of the World and Seville was the stopping point for hundreds of ships loaded with gold from the New World. The Arabs named it such, Guadalquivir, wadi al-Kabir, the great river. The backbone of Andalusia, at Seville the Guadalquivir turns sharply south and from here, down to the Ocean, there is 80 km of navigable river. By following its course, in this flat, metaphysical land, amongst brackish swamps, paddy fields and large estates still in the hands of the local nobility, one is given an insight into Spain's stall and cellar, the region south of Seville, inhabited by fishermen, vintners, and anarchical Andalusians who breed the finest bullfighting bulls. And by the faithful who take part in Spain's most famous pilgrimage: that of the white Virgin of El Rocío.

Chile - Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego by boat

2010-02-20

The waters of Magellan Strait and of Tierra del Fuego, off Cape Horn, are considered to be among the most tracherous in the world. Yet landscapes, fauna and lights are fantastic, and sometimes almost unnatural. While until not long ago these places were exclusively accessible to skilled seamen and navigators, today everybody can enjoy their magic on board a comfortable cruise ship. Here's the chronicle of a very special voyage on board the Chilean M/V Stella Australis.

Tunisia - Africa's Roman heart

2010-02-19

Travelling on the train from Sousse to Sfax, the Colosseum suddenly appears between palms and sand dunes. The El Djem amphitheatre is just one of a number of Roman sites which can be found in Tunisia, the ancient imperial granary, the location in Proconsular Africa where war veterans came to spend the winter and where caravans from the heart of the Dark Continent would meet. After having annihilated the menace of Carthage, the Romans founded majestic cities all over Tunisia, such as Bulla Regia, Sbeitla, Dougga, Utica and Bizerte. Surrounded by large estates, embellished by underground villas decorated with breathtaking mosaics, today housed in the Bardo National Museum in Tunis.

Libya - Fezzan ski club

2010-02-15

"Sure, this is not snow. But skiing on the sand is unforgettable". Mark has just taken off his boots and he walks back to the top of the dune: he wants to try again. We are in the heart of the Fezzan, in southern Libya, near the border with Algeria. But here at the Lake Gebraoun, visitors not only can drink tea or purchase souvenirs. They can even sand skiing. Sheikh - the tuareg who runs the campground - had a brilliant idea: rent skis or snowboard to travellers, transforming Gebraoun in the Courmayeur of the Sahara. The rent is 5 euros and you can keep the skis the whole day. But there is only one-way car-service included in the price. You load skis and boots on the 4x4 and then you can drive up to the dune. The descent will last only few minutes and, at the end of the day, a swim in the lake is a must.

China - China Islamic Frontier

2010-02-15

Stretching from Taklamakan desert to the peaks of Pamir, Xinjiang is the biggest and the most diverse of China's provinces. Inhabited by the Uighurs, a Muslim, Turkic-speaking ethinc group, its vast natural resources include oil, coal, gas and uranium. From the other provinces, millions of migrants came to China "wild west" and in many areas Han Chinese are today the majority, while the nine millions Uighurs are a minority in their own land. They are concentrated in west Xinjiang around Kashgar, a border town that once was a major oasis on the Silk Road. Many complain that they have been marginalized and are unable to benefit from the rapid development of the province. Despite the region's wealth of natural resources, Uighurs are some of the poorest in China.

Dem. Rep. of the Congo - Kivu, the war continues

2010-02-13

Fifteen years of war, violence, tension, instability. Four million, three hundred thousand dead. And an endless list of abuses, injustices, hypocrisies. Today, Kivu continues to be a land of death and exploitation. Never-ending misery and vast resources. Poor because it's rich. It's just one of the many contradictions which characterise this eastern region in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the fate of a large slice of Africa is being decided (and many world interests are concentrated here, including the West and China). A reportage from the heart of tortured Africa, amongst miners and exorcists, traffickers or jailbirds, and shanty-town inhabitants who, with courage and obstinacy, still find the strength to go on. And survive. Despite and against everything.

China - Nanjie, Communism is back

2010-02-12

As the rest of China struggles with mounting social problems brought on by two decades of economic reforms, Najie, a village of 3.000 in central Henan province, has chosen to go back to the old times. In the era of market and privatiziation, it has found its fortune in restoring the stern rules of maoism. Fancy restaurants, karaoke bars, music clubs, and mahjongg are all forbidden, but the real secret to its collective well-being is capitalist: two dozen village enterprises manufacture all sorts of things - noodles, beer, pharmaceuticals - and a local tour operator is succesfully promoting 'red tourism'.The workers of the locals factories are guaranteed a lifelong healthcare and a small house but their salaries do not reach 30 dollars a month. Communism is the official ideology and an onnipresent Chairman Mao remains the presiding deity.

Northern Europe - The Amber Road

2010-02-09

About 50 million years ago, gigantic conifers covering the area around today's Baltic Sea, began a slow fossilization process. Huge quantities of resin were fossilized along with the wood, giving rise to a semi-transparent glassy material with particularly warm tones. This fossil resin was given the name of amber and immediately began to fascinate man, who attributed supernatural powers to it, even from the Pleistocene era. The mesmerising influence of amber continued over time, and amber jewellery was worn by the Assyrians, Egyptians, Etruscans, Greeks and Romans. It was precisely due to the importance of this fossil resin in history that the trade routes crossing the Baltic countries, where the amber was collected by dredging the shallow lagoon beds or combing the beaches after sea storms, acquired the name of Amber Road.

Palestine - Ramallah rebirth

2010-02-09

Ramallah is changing. In the West Bank's main city, money, invested by the Palestinian diaspora, is flowing. Shopping centres, restaurants and buildings, where an apartment can cost up to 12 thousand dollars per square meter, are springing up everywhere. Luxury cars have appeared on the roads. The artistic side of things is also in ferment, thanks to new bands, dance schools and the most avant-garde disc jockeys and graffiti artists. And all this in spite of the wall built by Israel, which surrounds the city and makes it, as its inhabitants call it, an open-air prison. Run by a very special mayor. A Roman Catholic. And a woman.

Middle East - The incense route

2010-02-08

From Tutankhamun's mummification, to the rites honouring the god Baal in the Assyrian tombs, from Sheba's offerings to Solomon, to Poppaea's funeral, where Nero burnt more than Arabia could produce in a year, incense has always been favoured as a means of communicating with the gods. Frankincense resin, extracted from the Boswellia sacra, a bush which once grew wild in the Dhofar region of Oman, was then transported over the 2,000 km of caravan routes. The control of these commercial routes and the monopoly of the traffic, made a series of South Arabian kingdoms very rich, and whose wealth was exalted by the historians of the era, such as Pliny the Elder. Today we can follow this ancient Route, led by the aroma of that incense which once made the ancients dream, so much so that it was one of the most important gifts presented to Jesus.

Libya - Fezzan Art Gallery

2010-02-03

A rebellious people in the heart of the Sahara. Twenty thousand Roman soldiers marching in the desert of Fezzan. And the surprise conquest of Garama, the mythical capital of the Garamantes, masters of the transaharan trade. An episode forgotten from the history books which reappears after walking through the archaeological sites of Germa, the starting point to explore one of the most remote and fascinating parts of Libya. Amongst the blue lakes which emerge from the dunes, caravans of camels and ancient galleries of rock art. Protected by UNESCO, studied by the Italian Fabrizio Mori, engravings and rock paintings tell us of ancient times, when ostriches, elephants, buffalo, giraffes and a population who used horse-drawn chariots to travel around, was living here. These were the Garamantes, the ancestors of the Tuareg.

Brazil - Orishaswe're waiting for you

2010-02-02

During the celebrations for Black Awareness Day in north-eastern Brazil, rites and possessions by spirits flourish. In the Quilombo de los Palmares, the epic deeds of Zumbi are honoured, a former slave who led the resistance against the Portuguese in the 17th century, creating a great state of freed people, a Promised Land for the many slaves fleeing from the sugar cane plantations. Zumbi was finally captured and beheaded in Recife in 1655, but became a symbol for all the inhabitants of African origin, especially for the followers of Umbanda and Candomblé. During this time of year, the worshippers of these faiths, born from the syncretism of African religions and Catholicism which were vetoed by the land owners in order to annihilate the slaves, even at a cultural level, gather in Zumbi's historical locations for great celebrations.

Eritrea - Train of desires

2010-02-02

In 1897 the Italians began building the railway to connect the Red Sea city of Massawa with Asmara, located at an altitude of 2,400 m. To overcome the steep gradients, 20 viaducts, 65 bridges and 30 tunnels had to be built. In the Seventies the railway was dismantled and rails and sleepers were used to build bunkers and trenches. After the liberation, the old railwaymen tried to reopen their beloved railway, which had become a symbol of national pride. Thanks to a huge collective effort, the tracks were repositioned and 4 vintage steam locomotives made serviceable, as well as the famous 1935 Fiat Littorina. As a result, it's now possible to travel on board the old train, but the government is planning to reuse the railway for the transport of goods from the port of Massawa to the capital.

GEO Germany - Zanskar

2010-02-01

Geographical UK - Zanskar

2010-02-01

China - Beijing Empty Icons

2010-02-01

In the months before the 2008 Olympics, Beijing went through a building boom that filled a once gray communist capital with architectural icons good for the covers of glossy design magazines. In August 2008, while the all world was watching, Husain Bolt run and Michael Phelps swam. Unfortunately, when the Big Party was over, most of the new venues turned into commercial disasters. Unlike cities such as Sydney, which used Olympic structures and publicity to create a longer-term flow of tourists and business traffic, Chinese leaders adopted a "build it and they will come" attitude, not giving much thought to what to with the venues after the Games. The government spent $43 billion for the Olympics but many of the venues proved too big and more photogenic than practical.

2010-01-20

Maldives - Cruising the archipelago

2010-01-20

The islands still embody the ideal tropical island dream, with perfect beaches, palm groves, lagoons and postcard sunsets. However, landing in Male today, waiting to migrate onto one of the 90 islands set up as tourist villages, or before setting off on one of the cruises which now offer countless itineraries between the island's 26 atolls and 1,200 islands, also means coming to terms with the huge transformation it's undergoing. The capital is at collapsing point: it's a crowded, frenzied urban-marine entanglement which hosts more than 80 thousand people. So much so that works are underway to build Male 2 and Male 3, whilst some are already talking about moving to other parts of the globe. It's much better then, to quickly set sail for more peaceful shores, in order to enjoy the bliss of the equatorial silence. Until it lasts

Aids in Malawi - Our Images on exhibition in Rome with the National Geographic Magazine

2010-01-20

Alessandro Gandolfi is one of four Italian photographers who have been chosen to display their work at the National Geographic Italia exhibition “Il nostro mondo” (our world), at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, from the 6th February to the 4th May, 2010 (free entrance; open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 10 am to 8 pm, Fridays and Saturdays from 10 am to 10.30 pm). Gandolfi's photos were taken in a hospital in the Malawian capital during a reportage on AIDS problems which afflict this African country and which portray babies suffering from the virus. The exhibition “Il nostro mondo” wants to narrate the life of human beings via unpublished images by the best National Geographic photographers, highlighting situations which characterise their existence: the human family, city life, man and nature, work. “These 48 photos – explains Guglielmo Pepe, director of National Geographic Italia and curator of the exhibition – besides letting us observe, also help us to understand, share, participate and show our solidarity. These photographs open our eyes to the world and make us feel nearer to others, in good times and bad”.

Antartide - A liter of light

2010-01-18

Millions of people in shantytowns all over the world are forced to live in darkness even in broad daylight. The shacks are often windowless, or so crammed that no light can penetrate, while electric power is too expensive or simply nonexistent. But an ingenuous Brazilian has figured out a way of turning a plastic bottle, with a few simple ingredients, into a lamp which, in daylight or on a full moon night, casts a light equivalent to that of a 55-watts bulb. And a Filipino foundation has taken the idea and spread it in Manila´s slums, bringing light into the life of thousands of people.

Antartide - Dirty Dancing

2010-01-18

DIRTY DANCING. At Cebu Provincial Jail, in the Philippines, something extraordinary happens every fourth Saturday of the month: the gates are opened, hundreds of people are admitted into the courtyard, and here they spend the day watching the show performed (for free) by a quite unique corps de ballet. It is formed by almost nine hundred inmates, many of them jailed for serious offences like rape, drug trafficking and manslaughter. The initiative was born almost by chance as a correctional program, and it has since become a model that´s been looked at with growing interest by many prisons in the world, as well as a show of the highest quality. Not by mistake: some of its numbers have been personally designed by Michael Jackson´s coreographer.

Antartide - Till death do us part

2010-01-18

The Philippines are the last country in the world where divorce is illegal: here, a marriage can be only undone by death. Moreover, the problem is worsened by domestic violence: according to statistics, 80 percent of Filipino women are abused by their husbands. Since many years, activist groups, and among them many members of Congress, lobby hard in order to change the law. But the Catholic Church, which in the Philippines holds an enormous sway over the political life of the country, opposes them just as hard. Meanwhile, those who desperately want a divorce find creative solutions: some even went as far as converting to Islam.

Ethiopia - Dancalia, in the devil's land

2010-01-12

The vast Danakil depression marks the beginning of the Great Rift Valley, the largest, longest and most prominent fault in the Earth's crust. Here, the underlying magma lies nearer to the surface than any other place on the planet. In the middle of the depression, the Erta Ale volcano appears like a large lava lake in continual eruption. The northernmost part is covered by a thick salt crust, the residue of an ancient sea which once covered the entire region. On this totally flat surface, covering hundreds of kilometres, several hundred men break up salt slabs with pickaxes and poles, just like their neolithic ancestors in the past. These are the Afar, a race of nomad warriors greatly feared by the majority, and the only ones capable of working in these infernal conditions, where the temperature often exceeds 50°.

Afghanistan - Mens sana in corpore afgano

2010-01-12

Lacking other facilities, the athletes in Kabul train in the Olympic Stadium, infamous for having being used for public executions during the Taliban regime. In the structure where adulteresses were stoned to death and opponents of the regime shot, athletes from different events now take turns to share the few available spaces. Football features amongst the various sports, women's too, but, as a kickboxing trainer points out, it's not as popular as in Europe: we Afghans prefer events which foresee a physical confrontation. And even the women fight: recently, the Afghan Olympic committee has started to train a dozen young women, hoping to transform them into professional boxers.

Nigeria - A new era in the Delta?

2010-01-12

The Niger River Delta is the capital of Nigeria's oil extraction. Due to the terrible conditions of the territory caused by pollution and the total lack of reparation for the local populations, over the past few years, MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta), has begun a series of military operations against the oil multinationals and the Nigerian government. In this way, the organisation has continued the work of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the poet who raised his voice in order to defend the delta peoples and hanged in 1995 on false charges of terrorism, transforming it into an armed opposition. Over the past couple of years, the federal government, together with the delta states, has launched a plan to get the inhabitants more involved in the oil proceeds, building a series of facilities such as schools, health centres and roads.

Chile - The seaweed hunters

2010-01-11

In the Strait of Magellan, one of the World's most treacherous seas, the fishermen's prey is an alga: the Gigartina Skottsbergii, from which a precious substance used in the food and cosmetics industries is extracted. Unfortunately, the Gigartina grows on the rocks on the seabed, and as a result, the Chilean plunderers must immerse themselves in the Strait's freezing waters in order to tear it away from its habitat, using makeshift equipment, rickety boats and no technical preparation regarding the physiology of underwater diving. A desperate hunt, to the extremes, to earn a few coins with which to get drunk in the rare and solitary days spent on dry land.

Mali - Griots, african legacy

2010-01-05

Just like the aoidos (bards) in ancient Greece, they narrate the exploits of heroes. They call them griots, the aoidos of Black Africa. A caste who create magic with words, sounds and songs. Masters of a strictly oral tradition handed down from father to son. Instead of narrating episodes from the Odyssey, they sing the saga of Sundjata Keita, the “Lion King”, founder of the Mali empire. Sundjata didn't conquer Troy, but he won the battle of Kirina in 1235 B.C., against the evil sorcerer king, Soumaoro Kanté, thus creating one of the vastest and richest African empires in history. The importance of the griots is summarised in the famous quote by the historian, Amadou Hampâté Bâ, ‘Every griot who dies, is a library which disappears’.

Mali - Historians with drums

2010-01-05

Instead of a zither they use a 12 string instrument, the kora. Just like the aoidos (bards) in ancient Greece, they narrate the exploits of heroes. They call them griots, the aoidos of Black Africa. A caste who create magic with words, sounds and songs. Masters of a strictly oral tradition handed down from father to son. Instead of narrating episodes from the Odyssey, they sing the saga of Sundjata Keita, the Lion King, founder of the Mali empire. Sundjata didn't conquer Troy, but he won the battle of Kirina in 1235 B.C., against the evil sorcerer king, Soumaoro Kanté, thus creating one of the vastest and richest African empires in history. The importance of the griots is summarised in the famous quote by the historian, Amadou Hampâté Bâ, Every griot who dies, is a library which disappears´.

Falcons against the Mob - TV Series

2010-01-05

Naples, the city with the highest level of criminal activity in Italy, counts seventy homicides, four thousand armed robberies, mostly with tourists as victims, and thousands of thefts a year. In order to combat the criminal elements, who are often secreted in the intricate lanes which don’t allow vehicles easy passage, the police force has created the Hawks (Falcons), a squadron which is practically unique: plain clothes agents who patrol the street in powerful off road motorbikes, their mission: to control and where possible prevent criminality. This is a risky mission which not occasionally brings them encounters with the Camorra and which makes them as they as they define themselves “moving targets on two wheels”.

Parallelozero and Apeiron photos

2010-01-04

From January, 2010 Parallelozero and Apeiron Photos have teamed up to distribute Parallelozero's stories in Greece. The most important ellenic photojournalistic agency will be our representative in the Greek market.

Cult_Anti_Cult prints for sale

2010-01-04

After the success of Sergio Ramazzotti's exhibition Cult_Anti_Cult, held in Milano at Micamera gallery in October, 2009, fine art limited edition c-prints of the exhibition are for sale on the gallery's website. Each subject has been printed in a limited series of 10. The series chosen for the prints is that of Saddam Hussein's portraits, defaced by Iraqis in the most creative ways after the 2003 invasion, and photographed by Ramazzotti all over the country.

Parallelozero's new site

2010-01-04

New editorial contents and graphic design for the 2010 version of our website. From now on you can look at multimedia free-to-consult products, cooperaton with international agencies, reportages of new photographers that are starting to distribute their work trough us, monthly workshops held by one of our photographers in Italy and a section where one can search for some of our several publications on the worldwide media market.

Ethiopia - Rimbaud, a season in Hell

2010-01-03

'My daytime is done; I am leaving Europe. The air of the sea will burn my lungs; lost climates will turn my skin to leather.... 'A Season in Hell' In 1880, Arthur Rimbaud renounces poetry and leaves for Africa, where he dedicates himself to the trade of coffee, skins and weapons, in a vain attempt to become rich. It's this gesture which still continues to scandalise us today, even more than his poetic works or the affair with Verlaine. The idea that a poet could muffle his voice and turn his back on his muse in the exact same moment in which she was opening the doors towards the heart of poetry, is something unimaginable. We will follow the stages of Rimbaud's African period: from Harar, where he was a coffee merchant, finishing along the Cercer mountains, then unknown to any European, travelling with the explorer, Jules Borelli.

Days Japan - Parallelozero Portrait

2010-01-01

Dubai - The fall and rise

2009-12-20

From zero to 828 metres in a little more than one century might not seem much of a speed performance. Yet, if the metres are vertical and express the height of a skyscraper standing where once were only sand dunes, the matter begins to look quite different. It is the synthesis of the last one hundred years of history of Dubai, the emirate managed by the al-Maktoum dynasty like a family company: from the poor and meaningless village of pearl fishermen to the Manhattan of the Persian Gulf. Or its Montecarlo. In economic terms: a miracle, financed by money made not with oil, but with more money. And, exactly for this reason, brought to its knees in a few days by the global financial crisis.

Somalia - Navy vs. pirates

2009-12-10

Egypt - In the desert of lost Whales

2009-11-18

West of the Nile opens an ocean of sand and rock called the Egyptian Western Desert. It is one of the most arid regions on Earth, a place where it rains once every four years. Where never ending dunes and white chalky rocks hide incredible golden mummies, discovered in Bahariyya in 1996. Millions of years ago, the Western Desert was really an ocean: its sea bed has now become depressions that conserve the biggest repository of fossil whales in the whole world. The ones who adventure in this mysterious land have always done so with fear and respect: pharaohs considered it the home of Seth, god of evil, while explorer László Almásy looked for the mythic Zerzura oasis here for years. It was he, earl Almásy, to inspire the character for the the English patient.

Germany - The Wall's voices 20 years after

2009-11-15

For years, Berlin was the nucleus of the Cold War between the West and the Communist world. The Wall, which divided the city from 1961 to 1989, became the symbol of the drama suffered by the German population after Nazism and the tragedy of the Second World War. The year 2009 sees the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Wall. We went to meet those who lived the history of the Wall first hand: from the artists who painted kilometres of it, creating one of the most extensive collective works of arts, to the 'mauerspechte' (wall woodpeckers) who rushed to knock down parts of it after the fall, the radio presenters who commented the day of the opening, and East Berliners, victims of political persecution or those who had rented houses near the Wall. Each of them with a story to tell

Focus - Italy - Historians with drum

2009-11-01

Dem. Rep. of the Congo - Cops and Robbers

2009-10-20

The prison of Bukavu, capital of the province of southern Kivu, suffers the evils of many African prisons, and not only, overcrowding, horrific hygienic conditions, practically no food (if not provided by the prisoner's families) and so on. But that which makes the situation in Bukavu so strange, is the prison guards' living conditions. Conditions which are practically identical to those of the prisoners. Measly wages which often never arrive. Dwellings made from rags and plastic sheets, hoisted by ropes under the roofing of a barn which often floods during the rainy season. The guards live here with their families amongst the wrecks of military vehicles, waiting for the charity of a few nuns. In fact, one could ask oneself what it's better to be in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: a cop or a robber?

Italy - Cremona and the Po violins

2009-10-19

Every morning, Andrea Mosconi walks up the steps of the city hall, opens the window overlooking the cathedral and plays a violin. Any one, it doesn't matter which, either Stradivari's 'Cremonese', Nicolò Amati's 'Hammerle' or Giuseppe Guarnieri's 'Quarestani'. He plays it for seven minutes and the notes float around the sleepy square. This is how Cremona wakes up, with the music from these ancient string instruments for which this Lombardic city is a refined production centre. Yet Cremona founded by the Romans two centuries before Christ - is, and remains, a busy, active agricultural town. Populated by farmers who resemble those depicted a thousand years ago in the cathedral's friezes, and by able violin craftsmen who come here even from afar, to study as apprentices and who then remain.

Afghanistan - NAK: Narcotics Anonymous Kabul

2009-10-13

According to the Health Ministry, in Afghanistan there are at least 180,000 drug addicts. Until not long ago, nobody took care of them: left to their own devices, they awaited death on the streets. But today they are no longer doomed. For the first time in the country´s history, Kabul has a disintoxication centre, set inside a partially bombed ex factory building and managed by a staff of social workers, psychologists and medics. The doctors limit themselves to treat the patients with methadone, adding the occasional lesson of Islamic doctrine, and explaining how the Koran condemns the use of drugs. At a glance, not much of an initiative: the center can treat only 50 patients at a time. Yet, as doctor Walid Ullah says, compared to the complete indifference the government has shown until not long ago, this is really a giant leap

Afghanistan - Thank God it's friday

2009-10-13

As in every Muslim country, Friday is a holiday in Afghanistan. And, if there´s a single place in the country where people feel like celebrating it, this is Kabul. Despite the suicide attacks, which hit the city at a depressingly frequent rate, and the perennial state of tension that looms all over town, citizens of the capital, especially the young, come Friday do not deny themselves some fun. From golfing to snooker, to body building practiced in an almost obsessive fashion, to swimming pools, to hashish, here´s how Afghans spend their week-end

GEO Italy - Africa: The glass beads game

2009-10-01

2009-08-29

There's a lot to be learnt whilst navigating in the Persian Gulf, amongst emirs, air conditioning, shopping malls, refineries, sand banks, ancient kingdoms, petrol platforms and routes. And if this experience unfolds on-board a floating, 300 metre long funfair, together with three thousand people (between cruise passengers and crew), then everything becomes more interesting. Almost a social phenomenon, amongst tight bikinis, suntan oils, futuristic skylines, kilometres of pizza and overcrowded Jacuzzis. A half-serious logbook of a cruise between the Hormuz strait and the Arabian peninsula, together with local holidaymakers, amateur sailors and shopping addicts.

Afghanistan - Death costs 30 cents

2009-08-17

The building near Kabul University was once the seat of the Soviet Cultural Centre. Today, half-destroyed by thirty years of bombings, it's the residence of nearly two thousand drug addicts, who live in the most appalling conditions. In this country it's easy to get caught in the drug spiral: a dose of heroin only costs a third of a dollar. For some time now, the government has been making empty promises to close the building and help its desperate inhabitants. Yet, the only tangible action has been taken by the United Nations, who has launched the pilot project of a drug rehabilitation centre in the capital. In the meanwhile, the cultural centre still hosts its spectres, practically inhuman, who await their next fix and death.

Mozambique - Gorongosa, dot-com nature

2009-08-16

Gorongosa, in central Mozambique, was one of the first nature reserves to be created in Africa. In the Sixties, the variety of its fauna was such, that the Portuguese called it the place where Noah landed the ark. The civil war, fiercely fought right within its boundaries, wiped out the animals: the soldiers killing them for food. Today Gorongosa, with its incredible biodiversity (there are 50 different ecosystems), returns to life, thanks to nature's amazing regeneration abilities, but thanks also to the 40 million dollars invested by a former American dot-com entrepreneur, who has decided to restore the park to its original splendour.

Mexico - The navel of Baja California

2009-08-06

'So, is the story about the song true?'. The woman in the Hotel California maintains that the Eagles never even passed through this area, but why ruin the myth? Todos Santos, a sleepy village cut in two by the Tropic of Cancer, enjoys an exceptional microclimate, but its success is also due to this fascinating hotel. Not only, okay: the laidback lifestyle, the colonial houses, the dusty roads and the deserted beaches all helped transform Todos Santos into the new San Diego South: the (discreet) residence of artists, idea men, producers and musicians who come here, in the extreme south of Baja California, to relax as often as they can. Living side-by-side with decrepit American hippies, surly Mexican taqueros and artists from the world over who have transformed the straight roads of Todos Santos into their privileged ateliers.

Abu Dhabi - Arabian miracle

2009-08-06

Before the discovery of oil in the Seventies, Abu Dhabi was a modest fishing village surrounded by desert dunes. In just over forty years, the Emirate boasts one of the most modern cities on the Arabian peninsula, and overall, the highest percentage of public open spaces, obtained thanks to the desalination of frightening quantities of seawater and the slave labour of thousands of immigrants, especially Pakistanis, Indians and Bangladeshis. However, the dynasty of Sheikh Zayed, the visionary emir who planned and built the city as it is today, wasn't tempted to build useless cathedrals in the desert.

Yacht Capital - Il popolo dei gommoni

2009-08-01

D/La Repubblica - Bangladesh flash

2009-08-01

Afghanistan - The skate runner

2009-07-17

Kabul, five in the afternoon. A group of children wait for Mister Olly. When his van arrives, they greet him joyfully: their daily skateboard lesson is about to begin. Mister Olly, real name, Oliver Percovich, born in Australia and here in Afghanistan by chance, unloads a dozen skateboards which the children eagerly grab. Astonished passers-by stop to watch this sport, totally unknown to them. Skateistan, the open-air skate school founded by Percovich for fun, in just a few months has become a roaring success which the whole city is talking about. It's also a terribly important activity, which has recently turned into a NGO, helping to save more than one child from a future of beggary on the capital's streets.

Turkey - Istanbul, Prince's Island

2009-07-06

Inhabited since ancient times, due to their strategic position at the mouth of the Bosphorus, the Princes' Islands owe their name to the Byzantines, who exiled here the troublesome members of the imperial families. A custom which was perpetrated by the Ottoman sultans. In the XIX century, the islands were chosen by the Istanbul bourgeoisie to build palaces and holiday homes, but their tradition as a place of exile continued with the arrival, in February 1929, of Trotsky, who had just been banished from the Soviet Union. Today, the Greek-Orthodox monasteries, the ancient wooden buildings, and especially the use of carriages as the only form of transportation, give the island a romantically retro atmosphere, perfect for a nostalgic seaside holiday.

Mozambique - Quirimbas Time Machine

2009-07-06

Forgotten islands off the northern coast of Mozambique, once flourishing and crowded, the nerve centres of the Swahili kingdom, the province of the Islamic empire, then of the slave trade and the Portuguese colonial administration. Today they're abandoned to themselves, the colonial architecture slowly succumbing to the attacks by sea-salt and ficus roots. And they're suffering with a backwardness which, to our eyes, could seem poetic, veiled by a gentle sadness which a Portuguese would define as saudade, crystallised in time like a clock without hands.

GENTE - WOMEN AGAINST AL QAEDA

2009-07-01

Italy - Apulia, Ostuni kasbah

2009-06-18

Ostuni is a dazzling oasis of traditional architectures which stands out white against the spring sky. It resembles an Arab casbah: cobbled streets, dry stone walls, washing hanging from the balconies, dialects spoken from house to house, the scent of freshly cut grass and spotless plaster which covers the walls of palaces and dwellings surrounded by age-old walls which protect the historic centre. Try to imagine Greece's Santorini without mules or fishing boats. The old city is an island, an Apulian hill with Saracenic reflections. Walking through it, in the first light of summer, becomes a journey into Mediterranean chromatism. Alongside the terraces decorated with bougainvillea, roses and succulent plants, there are stretches of green olive groves and tidy lands which gradually slope down to the beaches of Pilone, Villanova and Marina.

Seychelles - Maia Resort

2009-06-18

An emerald peninsula nestled between two enchanted beaches. A woody hill covered in flowers and palms. Thirty enormous villas, hidden amongst the bougainvillea and the sea, enveloped by the scent of lemon grass and frangipani. The residences all have a private swimming pool, panoramic jacuzzi and a butler available 24 hours a day. A Balinese style spa and two yachts are also at the guests' disposal, in order to relax and escape to the neighbouring islands in total solitude. Maia is one of the world's most exclusive resorts, frequented by sheiks and actors, Middle Eastern royal families and sports stars. All services are 5-stars. Every wish is fulfilled in style. Overlooking Anse Louise and less than thirty minutes from the capital, Victoria, Maia Resort, on the island of Mahè, is the quintessence of luxury, privacy and relax.

Italy - Capri glocal

2009-06-14

Dancers amongst the archaeological ruins of Damecuta. Teams of sculptors, painters and artists in a walk-about amongst the island's schools and woods. Trendwatchers sitting in the Piazzetta to study the foreign holidaymakers as they walk by and choreographers in search of inspiration on the rocky promontories overlooking the Mediterranean. Contemporary music. Festivals and the jet-set. Italy's most famous island transforms itself this summer, turning into an open-air art and culture laboratory for the first time. The newly founded Fondazione Capri, a cultural and artistic brainchild which finally reunites local entrepreneurs (but with an international air), regional institutions, Capri's art exponents (but of global inspiration), and the mayors of the two municipalities, will attempt to relaunch the island's glory once for all.

Focus Italy - Africa: Hadza hunters

2009-06-01

Cuba - El Che vive

2009-05-29

The Cuban revolution maybe trickling to a halt and the regime is becoming less popular each day that passes, but the Cubans finally have the permission (but often not the money) to buy a mobile phone or a computer with an Internet connection: Cuba is changing. Yet there's a icon, symbol of the revolution, which remains immutable, omnipresent and, notwithstanding everything, sincerely loved by the majority of Cubans: it's the image, or rather, the querida presencia of Ernesto Guevara, known as the Che.

Peru - Chaccu, the day of the Vicuňa

2009-05-28

An entire day on the Andes at an altitude of 4.500 meters. A complicated rite that involves hundreds of campesinos and dozens of villages scattered around the plateaus of the Pampa Galeras, on the road to Cuzco, 90 kilometres up from Nazca. Guitars and drums, hot soups and early morning treks, masks and costumes: everyone joins in for the vicuňa shearing. A traditional gathering which takes place in various Andean areas of South America, in order to obtain the world's finest fibre. In particular, there's a entire private reserve here, just outside the Reserva Nacional de Pampa Galeras, managed by Loropiana, one of the leading companies on the international scene in the production of high quality fabrics, in collaboration with local communities. A successful glocal experiment.

India - Rajasthan, Land of Kings

2009-05-22

Rajasthan has always represented the most symbolic and emblematic idea we have of India. Every traveller has this stereotype of the Indian subcontinent fixed in his head. Deserts and elephants, sumptuous palaces and maharajahs, sounds, colours, sacred yet profane atmospheres. Lakes, temples, saris and turbans, poverty, destitution and exaggerated luxury: extreme socio-economic groups who share the same dust, the same crystalline sky. Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpuir, Udaipur and Pushkar evoke literature, history and legend, in other words, the quintessence of textbook India. Yet, the Land of Kings preserves the country's true romantic soul. And today, even if the country is rife with political passions and diverging ideas, Rajasthan remains India's calm essence, nestled between the Thar desert and the verdant south-eastern hills.

Indonesia - Flores, wonder island

2009-05-21

An hour and a half by plane east of Bali, in the archipelago of Nusa Tenggara (Lesser Sunda Islands), two thousand kilometres from Java, Flores is an enormous tongue of volcanic sand which smells of vanilla and chocolate. Endless bamboo forests, lava plateaus, emerald green paddy fields, mountain lakes, uneven roads and timeless atmospheres blend with ancestral traditions, turbulent waters, smoky volcanoes and silent banana plantations. Practically no-one comes here on holiday. Yet Flores is enchanting. It has a choreography of natural wonders and an important cultural identity. It has crescents of white sand to offer, crystalline lagoons, fleets of wooden fishing boats, dragons, thermal springs, scented coffee and spice plantations, coasts indented by inlets and solitary bays, and mountain villages inhabited by ancient ethnic groups.

Italy - Falcons against the mob

2009-05-19

Naples, the city with the highest level of criminal activity in Italy, counts seventy homicides, four thousand armed robberies, mostly with tourists as victims, and thousands of thefts a year. In order to combat the criminal elements, who are often secreted in the intricate lanes which don´t allow vehicles easy passage, the police force has created the Hawks (Falcons), a squadron which is practically unique: plain clothes agents who patrol the street in powerful off road motorbikes, their mission: to control and where possible prevent criminality. This is a risky mission which not occasionally brings them encounters with the Camorra and which makes them as they as they define themselves moving targets on two wheels.

Russia - Moscow war and peace

2009-05-09

On one side the rich, on the other, the poor. The former, the oligarchs, spend bucket loads of money without depleting their resources, and it's not always clear how these immense fortunes are made. The poor struggle along as best they can, and often haven't access to two square meals a day. Surprisingly however, it's the oligarchs who need a psychoanalyst at ten thousand dollars per hour to cure their depression. The poor, on the other hand, seem to accept their destiny with a totally Zen serenity, and with the proverbial Russian patience. Moscow: a chaotic, frenetic, repulsive city. 20 million inhabitants: who, amongst these, is at war, and who at peace?

Jordan - Little Ranias grow up

2009-05-06

They're women between 20 and 40 years of age, who live in the cities and don't wear the veil, those who visit coffee shops and shopping centres. They call them the Rania Generation, because they'll go to any lengths to resemble the queen, copying her clothes and her hairstyle, her natural make-up and those refined manners which have guaranteed her long-standing position in the list of the world's most glamorous women. You can find them in the restaurants of the progressive Amman districts, where a mixed clientele is more common. Such as the Blue Fig Café during the weekends, when the tables are full, and groups of girls gossip amongst themselves. We admire her emancipated image above all, that of a free and independent woman explains one of them as she sips a cocktail

National Geographic Italy - Cinque Terre

2009-05-01

Tanzania - The true Kilimanjaro heroes

2009-04-20

Each year, thousands of excursionists put themselves to the test in an attempt to reach the peak of the Kilimanjaro, the highest African summit, and have their photo taken under the sign which indicates Uhuru Peak at 5895m, as if they were heroes. Each excursionist takes along at least two porters to satisfy his every need: from food to tents, from luggage to... lavatories. Each porter carries up to 20kg on his back, with a gradient of 1000m per day. These are the true heroes of this mountain, young men who, for a small wage and an occasional tip, continually climb and descend from 1500m to 4600m where the last camp is located, with inadequate equipment, forcing their body in a continual acclimatization

Liberia - Equatorial Ground Zero

2009-04-14

Bulletin of one of the most devastated African countries. The American freed slaves founded it in 1847, in a territory which the US government had bought to distance them and to take up an option on the gold, iron, natural rubber and diamonds of which the country is extremely rich. Today, Liberia is a republic which has been razed to the ground by 14 years of civil war, with 4 billion dollars of foreign debt, with no running water nor electricity, an economy at rock-bottom, and 90% unemployment. It´s protected by 15 thousand peacekeepers from the United Nations, appointed to complete the disarmament of the militia and to guarantee public order. And yet, under the presidency of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the country seems on the slow road to recovery.

Australia - Tropical North Queensland

2009-04-03

ueensland is one of the most forgotten states inside the nation. Within its borders, the Tropical North is one of the most forgotten regions inside the state. In the collective imagery of the rest of Australia, it's an underdeveloped territory populated by snakes, crocodiles and uncouth farmers. The locals, with a discreet sense of humour, say exactly the same thing. And in the meantime, one after another, they're transforming the sugarcane plantations into resorts. And, thanks to the money brought in by the tourists, they can face the cyclone season on board a Rolls-Royce.

D/La Repubblica - Jamaica: One Love, No Love

2009-04-01

Bangladesh - Bangladesh Flash

2009-04-01

In Dhaka a man sums up his life story: I was born in India in 1944, at three I became an East Pakistani, today I'm a Bangladeshi. I'm a practising Muslim, but once, and just once, I got blind drunk. It was in 1971, when the country declared its independence and became Bangladesh. That evening, out of sheer elation, I drank a whole bottle of whisky. Yet, today, I don't know if it was worth it. This is Bangladesh: a young country, a troubled past, a present like the past (many regions resemble the East Pakistan of fifty years ago), a future which few feel like betting on.

Tunisia - Tabarka's red gold

2009-03-31

Moktar's seven girls work the coral in complete silence. Hands on drill, gaze fixed on the small red branches. Lots of water is needed explains the jeweller otherwise the coral turns yellow.... Moktar's shop is a kiosk in Rue Bourguiba, which can be reached by following the narrow Tabarka streets, leaving the fisherman's hangout, the Café des Andalous, to your right. Raw Tunisian coral is transacted each week, in front of a hookah. We call it the red gold coast he explains, it stretches from the Algerian border to Bizerte; here one can still harvest the best coral in the world. For a couple of centuries, even a colony of Ligurians fished coral in Tabarka, becoming the first Christian enclave in North African territory. And today, as a reminder of those years, it's still the solid Genoese fort which dominates the port.

Israel - Israeli daily life

2009-03-30

"They water the plants, bring up their children, and dream of buying a new car or house writes Amos Oz. They argue with the bank, gossip about their neighbours and go to the dentist. The everyday life of the Israelis five million Jews and a million and a half Arabs, Muslims for the most part often rolls by normally, in spite of the tensions and the wars. In the Kibbutz gardens, young mothers cradle their children, girls from the North go to the Dead Sea to have fun, in Haifa, one works hard in the docks and in Jerusalem, Arabs and Jews try to live together peacefully in the capital of religious monotheism. In the hope that one day, they really can live in a Middle East made up of sovereign states and a normal, pleasant everyday life.

Turkey - Istanbul, memories by Orhan Pamuk

2009-03-23

'Istanbul', the latest book by Orhan Pamuk, the noble-featured novelist from a good family, has become a must-have on the counter of every bookshop around the world. 'Istanbul' is an autobiographical novel, it talks about his life, but it's also a trip into ancient Constantinople. Istanbul is the city where he was born and grew up, which mapped out his future, in a continual game of superimpositions. The Istanbul which emerges from his pages is nostalgic, far from the lights and the desire for modernity which pervades Turkey today. A city of old districts with wooden houses and paved alleyways. An intimist city, like a night time vision in front of the Blue Mosque during a snowstorm. A city of soft hues, or better still, as he himself writes I experienced the Istanbul of my childhood as a place with two colours: black and white.

Morocco - Trendy Marrakech

2009-03-23

Today, Morocco is testimony to a series of investments without precedents in the tourism market. Building yards are changing the appearance of both the Atlantic coasts and the surrounding areas of the Marrakech medina. Large groups of tour operators and hotel chains are building resorts, spas, residential areas and shopping malls all over the place. And Marrakech is experiencing a veritable boom. This city, which aims to host three and a half million visitors within the year 2010, is organising itself to satisfy every sort of style and taste in terms of hospitality. The fusion between traditional elements and modern design, is everywhere. Bold combinations appear via colours, forms and materials in the restructured riads, the kasbah hotels and fashionable restaurants. For a really trendy city.

Belgium - Comic-strip Brussels

2009-03-21

In recent decades, the house façades in Brussels have been the canvas for stories harking back to our infancy and adolescence. Blow-ups of comic-strip sagas blend with the urban scenery, creating amusing images between real and painted people (today there are more than 40). Belgium has a great tradition of comic-strip artists, Hergé, the creator of Tin Tin above all, and the year 2009 will be totally dedicated to them. The city is setting up exhibitions in various locations, and opened the display with a grand parade of huge helium balloons in the shape of famous cartoon heroes. A parade which will be put on every year.

Mali - Recycling wizards

2009-03-13

In Bamako, the capital of Mali, there's a very special district, a place where hundreds of people are busy in a sort of percussion concert with a perfectly synchronised, insistent rhythm. This isn't a music school however, but the district of blacksmiths and tinkers. African blacksmiths are a scorned caste, yet feared at the same time, a caste of magicians who are able to tame fire in order to make weapons and utensils. From their hands and under the heavy blows of a hammer, car wrecks, old oil drums, food cans and tins find new life in the shape of ploughs, charcoal stoves, trunks, pails or ladles. In the Western world, where waste recycling is much discussed, we don't realise that in nations such as Africa, people do this everyday out of necessity. Organic waste is the animals' prey, the inorganic takes on a new lease of life.

India - Zanskar - Walking on the frozen river

2009-03-12

Zanskar is a remote valley in northern India, wedged between Ladakh and Kashmir, through which runs the Indus river tributary of the same name. In winter, the numerous villages in the valley would be totally isolated from the rest of the world, if it wasn't for the river, which, freezing over in the coldest months, permits the inhabitants to walk on it. It's a fascinating journey which winds amongst seventy kilometres of gorges, where, at night, one has to shelter from temperatures of -30° inside caves created by the erosion of the soft sandstone. The inhabitants of Zanskar still use the frozen river to transport butter, which is particularly fragrant and appreciated, to Leh market (the capital of Ladakh)

Italy - Milan on water

2009-03-05

I'm the Jack Sparrow of the canals. I can pass through the lock in via Torricelli with just three centimetres to spare. Do you want to see?. Roberto drives the Navigli Lombardi boat which carries tourists every day along the waterways. The toponym, Milan, derives from mid-land, middle-earth, the same as the Lord of the Rings... blares the loudspeaker, whilst a young woman captures everything on her camcorder. It's true, one can navigate in Milan as on the Tevere, the Grand Canal, or on the gracht in Amsterdam. Because Milan is a paradox, far from large rivers, yet extremely water rich. The city rises between the Adda and the Ticino, which delimit a damp territory, drenched with water, rich in springs and irrigation ditches

Riders Italy - Kabul

2009-03-04

Croatia - Sailing the archipelago

2009-03-03

Circumnavigating the island of Bievo towards the east, it's possible that one may sail into peaceful Porat bay, where the silence is broken only by the squawking of the seagulls, right around lunchtime. Thus, under the spring sun, one can find oneself sitting in the shade of an olive tree, eating bread, cheese and sardines with a group of fishermen, drinking white wine and munching on black olives, observing the Adriatic from the east. There isn't even the hint of a breeze, but the air still carries the scent of wild fennel, rosemary and myrtle. The water is as crystalline as the Maldives and the surrounding hills are ablaze with yellow flowers and prickly pears. Dalmatia has more than a thousand islands. There are no roads or cars down here. Only 'gozzi' and fishing nets to be mended

Vietnam - In uncle Ho's North

2009-03-02

In the Sixties, American soldiers had the following engraved on their Zippo's: when I die I'll go to heaven because I've spent my time in hell: Vietnam. The war ended in 1975. Twenty years later, the United States lifted the trade embargo against Vietnam and today, the country which defeated the White House, is invaded by dollars, internet and Coca Cola. Our fathers freed us from the Americans, but now it's time to forget this story that making money is a crime, say the teenagers outside a disco in Hanoi, in the north of the country. The North is the true cradle of Vietnam. It's here that one can meet men with three live pigs tied to a bicycle, or women who emerge from the fields with their conical hats, or students who salute the bust of Bac Ho with a bow, Uncle Ho, as the Vietnamese affectionately call Ho Chi Minh

National Geographic Italy - Milan on water

2009-03-01

Italy - Occitania, the invisible country

2009-02-26

Does Occitania really exist? A country with this name isn't recognised by world diplomacies, yet its flag (the Cathar cross) hangs in various European town halls, its history goes back thousands of years and its provinces run from the Spanish Pyrenees across Gascony, Languedoc and the Camargue, down to the Piedmontese valleys. An invisible country, where thirteen million people speak (or understand) an ancient and noble language: Occitan or the Langue d'oc, the ancient Provençal which basically was the equivalent of the English language in the 13th century. In Italy, they number two hundred thousand, scattered in a dozen valleys between Imperia, Cuneo and Turin; it's the vast area of the Maritime Alps, a curious name which is almost an oxymoron, the place where sea and mountains meet and smile at each other.

United States - Elvis lives!

2009-02-03

Legend has it that Elvis is still alive. That he didn't die on the 16th of August, 1977, in a bathroom in Graceland, his Memphis residence, but that he voluntarily chose exile. No matter how things went, from that day on, Graceland became the true temple of rock, a destination still visited today by hoards of fans and the curious, who with their visits (paid exorbitantly) fuel a booming business. Elvis's home has become a lay sanctuary, preserved exactly as it was thirty years ago, embellished with memorabilia and common objects, stage costumes, gold discs, posters and original guitars, cars and even planes. To visit Graceland is to pay homage to a contemporary music legend, but it's also a trip into the iconographic exploitation of Elvis, who can find his face stamped on socks, medallions and even thimbles

Czech Republic - Kutna hora, bone Architecture

2009-02-01

The Kutná Hora ossuary is the only monument of its type in the world: its interior is entirely embellished with human bones. The chapel, which dates back to the 14th Century, has uncertain origins: it's known that the cemetery which surrounds it was already a coveted burial place in the 13th Century, due to the fact that a local abbot, on his return from a trip in the Holy Land, scattered here a handful of earth taken from Christ´s tomb in Jerusalem. The first information regarding the overcrowding of the cemetery dates to 1318. In 1870, the chapel's owner commissioned the carver Frantisek Rint to create the present decoration. Which, somehow, gives a second life to many of those who, over the centuries, sought eternal life in this modest country necropolis.

Revu Magazine - Falcons against the mob

2009-02-01

Sweden - Lapland, the Big Chill

2009-01-20

This corner of northern Sweden, still virgin for the most part, has recently become the paradise of accessible and alternative adventure tourism. From an inhospitable, wild, barren land, the home of reindeer and icy hills, it has transformed itself into a vast recreation ground, where travellers arrive, attracted by the boundless spaces and extreme nature. They're all looking for the big chill, but don't want to tackle the lack of comforts, costs and dangers of an expedition. On the contrary, they want to travel, even in these secluded lands, with all the possible luxuries: fast snowmobiles, polar equipment, helicopters for alpine skiing or ice fishing, 5 star refuges, natural reserves full of wild animals. And the Sami, the Lapps, have prepared themselves, evolving from semi-nomadic herders into perfect tourist guides

Bulgaria - Gypsy rhythm

2009-01-20

After the interlude of true Socialism, the younger generations in the Bulgarian capital have gone wild, thirsty for the West and eager for fun. They move from free climbing competitions under the stern gaze of the soldiers on the Red Army monument, to breakdance contests, in the austere building which was once a military base. However, in the nightclubs, modern beats and fashion shows often blend with frenzied Balkan melodies, along with belly dancers and gypsy singers. Not forgetting the old Soviet songs sung in unison by the patrons in full nostalgic revival. In short, it's not possible to get bored in the capital of a State which was once one of the most faithful supporters of Socialist austerity

Bangladesh - Ship eaters

2009-01-09

Chittagong, Bhatiary seafront, south-eastern Bangladesh: a laid-up ship arrives on a beach in the Gulf of Bengal to be dismantled. Like ants, hundreds of men, often adolescents, attack it to take it to pieces: a supertanker, weighing 20 thousand tons, literally disappears in four months. It produces iron, but also asbestos, mercury, hydrocarbon residues, acids and poisons, which devastate the coastal ecosystem and cripple the fishing activities. This business, however, is one of the country's main earners, and the Government turns a blind eye to environmental catastrophes, the illegal asbestos trade and the conditions of near slavery in which the ship eaters are forced to work

Dominican Republic - Los Dominicanos

2009-01-02

We know little about the Dominicans. We frequent their beaches, amongst fields of sugar cane and Spanish castles: we try their specialities at the restaurant, we awkwardly attempt to follow the rhythm of the merengue. At Cabeza de Toro, south of Bàvaro, we can have small plaits done like theirs for 60 dollars. But who are the Dominicans and what do they really want? Marcelo is a street barber, Romano lives in the gallera and bets money on the strongest cockerel, and Magdalena, who comes from El Bonao, is little more than a child: her father glares as she practices the movements of the bachata with her friends, too many obscene movements in this dance he mutters. But not all Dominican girls have had such an attentive father: in the brothels of Bàvaro and Punta Cana, girls just a little older than her wait night and day for clients

Venezuela - Llanos, the flooded world

2008-12-11

The Llanos are vast alluvial plains which stretch for more than 300,000 square kilometres between Sierra Nevada de Mérida and the course of the Orinoco river, in the heart of Venezuela. They represent a geographical, cultural and historical frontier, epic and terrifying at the same time. They occupy no less than a third of the country's entire surface, but are inhabited by less than five people per square kilometre, for the most part herdsmen, landowners and indigenous survivors from the wars of conquest. A cross between the western American prairies and Argentinian pampas, a seasonal liquid universe which resembles the Brazilian Pantanal, with the same herding saga (the Llaneros are expert and melodramatic cowboys, more than the 'Pantaneiros' or their American cousins), perhaps with just a slightly more modest naturalistic profile.

Libya - Acacous, the painted desert

2008-12-11

Southern Libya is an enchantment of volcanoes, rock arches, dunes and geological rarities. One of the most extraordinary locations in Africa. In these parts, geography and prehistory blend amongst canyons, dune piles, uplands, valleys, oases, graffiti and spectacular rock formations. The entire Acacous archaeological park is accessible in off-road vehicles. One moves in small, well-equipped convoys and sleeps in fixed and mobile tents, exploring the entire protected area. The Ghat oasis is the entrance to a parallel world which survives off small nomad villages inhabited by Tuareg and herding communities, camel transhumances, groups of adventure tourists and open-air museums which hide priceless petroglyphs.

United States - Is there just oil in Texas?

2008-12-09

Cowboy hats and oil. But also guitars and Cadillacs, canoes and Formula One, and why not, works of art and symphony orchestras. Because the Texas we imagine intolerant, ultraconservative and a little bigoted, the place where the greatest number of death penalties are carried out in the USA- doesn't just mean oil wells and J.R. from the old TV series, Dallas. In this vast state, twice the size of Italy, the only one to have annexed to the Union when it was already an independent state (in 1846), life is good and ever more people are settling down here. Taxes are low and job opportunities high, the climate is usually pleasant and houses don't cost much. Because, belying what people think, Texas is a multicultural state. And above all, because it's beautiful. A special, unique beauty

Colombia - Providencia, treasure island

2008-12-08

You arrive here either by chance or by word of mouth. Recently, the island has turned into a sort of 'buen retiro' for artists, writers and unemployed adventurers, where time goes by divergently. A strange land. A stone's throw away from Nicaragua, but lying more than 800 kilometres off the Colombian coasts (to which it belongs politically). It's a transverse universe made up of volcanic sand, primary forests, emerald green lagoons and coral reefs. It's uncomparable. Populated by dark, morphologically Caribbean, short-tempered, surly half-castes, the descendants of buccaneers and smugglers. These offspring of English and Dutch pirates, puritan colonists and African slaves, now take it easy, as they watch life roll by along with the clouds. They play dominoes and bet on the horses. Today the residents are less than five thousands.

Nicaragua - Fish'em before they eat you

2008-12-04

When you are born son of a fisherman on Nicaragua´s Atlantic coast, the future gives you one possibility and three different roadmaps. The possibility is to become a fisherman. About the roadmaps, you can choose to risk little and earn close to nothing, risk your life and earn a bit more, or risk between 30 years and a life sentence in jail and (maybe) get rich. In the first case you fish lobster, in the second sharks, in the third floating packs of cocaine (the ones abandoned by the traffickers intercepted at sea by U.S. antinarcotics patrols). Whatever your choice, the life awaiting you is one of resignation and hopes thrown at sea like fishing nets. Those who chose to fish sharks have, at least, the pride of doing a very macho job, which is exatcly what is expected of a men at these latitudes

Brazil - Nordeste easy chic

2008-12-02

It was a clear afternoon with oceanic sky-blue hues and ochre-coloured cliffs: there were dozens of 'jangadas' sailing along the horizon. We drove the dune-buggies like madmen through wind and waves up to Morro Branco and its labyrinth of cliffs, 70 kilometres further down. At times we could only see dunes and it really felt like being in the middle of the Sahara. Only the camels were missing. We spent entire days amongst the beaches of Lagoinha, Fleixeiras and Mandù before heading back to the capital. Today Fortaleza looks like Miami, with skyscrapers balanced alongside the ocean, music on the beach and pretty girls jogging along the seafront. Cearà is a land of sand and Atlantic, colonial architecture and grand hotels

French Polynesia - Tamurè and independence

2008-11-26

In Oceania, work is a thing unknown wrote Pierre Loti in 1872 and the years go by for the Tahitians in an absolute indolence.... It was these words which excited Paul Gauguin, a penniless painter with a great desire to leave France. He was finally convinced by a brochure found in Paris: The Tahitians it quoted are a magnificent race and the women are perfect models for a sculptor. Tahitians and Polynesians in general are still a magnificent race, a hospitable and pacific people, tied to traditions, tamurè dances, local celebrations and the art of body tattooing. However, this is also a proud people which has never stopped thinking of complete autonomy from France. And which reveals a strong personality, sometimes rebellious, but far from postcard stereotypes just the same

French Polynesia - Marquesas - Tropical fiords

2008-11-20

The southern seas that you don't expect. The violent ocean and the tangled forests. A metaphysical paradise, amongst low clouds, stone effigies and epic voyages. The Marquesas, six main islands plus a bunch of reefs for a total of one thousand square kilometres of land above sea level, inhabited by less than ten thousand people, are the antithesis of the common idea we have of Polynesia: there are no marvellous lagoons, nor coral reefs. The beaches are black, due to the volcanic sand and the climate is unpredictable. The earth stagnates, decays and regenerates with the rains, the seasonal waterfalls and the huge oceanic tides. The people, with regards to the future, for the most part just shrug their shoulders and stare at the ocean.
(Text by Davide Scagliola available on commission)

Great Britain - Manchester, radical chic

2008-11-20

Above suspicion. As colourful and lively as a Latin-blooded city, Manchester today is a cauldron of ideas, fashions and festive atmospheres, even more than its big sister, London. Great Britain's second most important city has restyled its look over the last few years. Many industrial areas have been transformed into art galleries, restaurants and shopping centres, whilst musicians, artists and entrepreneurs have ridden the wave of the city's cultural revival, investing, together with the City Council, in the redevelopment of abandoned and degraded urban areas. Warehouses, foundries, old railway stations, textile factories and dormitory districts have been turned into museums, music halls, lofts, studios, bars and night clubs, where the Mancunians experiment with stylistic evolutions and where, above all, they have fun

India - Pench National Park

2008-11-20

A magnificent teak forest. A calm river. Watering holes and decaying savannahs. Elephants, Jeeps and safaris, just like Africa. India's green heart is a rich land in full evolution. Mowgli's forest 300 square kilometres of protected land is located within one of the most beautiful Indian natural reserve, the Pench National Park in the state of Madhya Pradesh, where it's been possible over the last few months to stay in a luxurious 5 star lodge built and run by Taj Hotels in collaboration with CC Africa, one of the most famous adventure and environmental conservation organisations in Africa, determined to export its know-how even in Asia. On the back of an elephant or on a 4WD in the search for tigers, leopards, antelope and monkeys, under the protection of Krishna and Vishnu.

Uganda - The green heart of Africa

2008-11-13

Emerald-green hills, scorched savannahs and sky-blue lakes surrounded by volcanic chains and rain forests as dense as honey. Endless tea and banana plantations, audacious agriculture and sleepy villages suspended on the equator, poised between the dramatic historical vicissitudes of twenty years of dictatorship and a possible prosperous future as tourist destination, organised and safe at last. Natural parks, mountain gorillas, friendly, musical peoples. Expanses of bamboo, lodges overlooking lagoons and canals: a way of life nestled in the centre of the continent, in Africa's greenest heart

South Korea - Yin-Yang Land

2008-11-05

A double-sided country: on side A, the modernity of the metropolises, the frenzy of the third millennium, technological development, an obsession for fitness which counterbalances the ever-present junk food with which an ever more westernised society nourishes itself. On side B, the refinement of Confucian traditions, the meditation in the Buddhist temples, the indelible imprint of ancient Asia. United by the feeling of ambivalence towards North Korea, sister nation, yet enemy at the same time. Side A and B live side-by-side within the same boundaries, like Yin and Yang who endlessly pursue each other on the country's flag

Angola - A sand tiger between the desert and sea

2008-10-22

Having emerged from a long war which for many years made it off limits to foreigners apart from mercenaries and traffickers, Angola is ready to reveal its treasures to the rest of the world. A tiger's coat of tall, yellow dunes streaked with violet mineral dust, overlooking an Atlantic Ocean so violent as to submerge the isthmus of the Baia dos Tigres, condemning the ancient Portuguese city to ruin. This is the southern part of the country with the continuation of the Namib desert, which from the Kunene river valley descends towards the sea. A territory which has maintained intact all its wild beauty and an extraordinary ethnographic patrimony.

Italy - Apulia, Daunia Mountains Hills of wind

2008-10-17

Halfway along the coast between the Tavoliere delle Puglie (Apulian Table) and the Campania Apennines, flow woody crests, hill chains and quiet villages: an extraordinary agricultural and Medieval enclave. Here, farmers and herdsmen live amongst tradition and technology. They discovered the clean energy business a while back and practically every landform exposed to the wind hosts ultramodern wind turbines and electric lines scattered amongst high pasture grounds and faith paths. Today, Daunia is a geographic mystery, an underrated sub-region on the border of well-trodden tourist routes, made up of 29 foothill municipalities in the western province of Foggia. A real spacetime frontier, a no-man's land suspended between Roman history and the near future.

China - Canton the red and the black

2008-10-14

It's a modern, bustling city in continual growth: one of the most representative examples of New China. However, in the shadow of the crystal skyscrapers, where the financial institutions are based, can be found another Canton which seems immune to change: that of the alleyways where people play mahjong, the markets which sell scorpions, snakes and tiger bones, the people's parks, where the afternoons are spent reading the tazebao and practising the ancient art of tai-qi. Canton is the city of the red and black, where Imperial China and that of the future live together side by side, the one ignoring the other

El Salvador - Surfing El Salvador

2008-10-09

It's a surfer's paradise in Central America and offers some of the best breaks in the world. El Tunco, Palmarcito and El Zonte are beaches well known to anyone who loves riding the waves, locations revered not only by Salvadorians, but also by Europeans and Americans who follow the coast down from the capital, San Salvador. To surf, to have fun and follow a bohemian lifestyle which still exists here. With little money, between beach bars and parties held to the rhythm of cumbia and reggaeton, hostels available for a few dollars and getting up at ungodly hours to catch the best waves. Here, in La Libertad, everything revolves around surfing, from those who repair surfboards to those who offer paying lessons, from the champion who exploits his image to the worker who surfs in the early morning before going to work. For pure passion

Italy - The Matera labyrinth

2008-10-08

A Unesco World Heritage Site since 1993, Matera is a wonder of underground passages and caverns dug into the rock. Its two famous districts, the Sassi, practically uninhabited until the Seventies, have slowly been restored to their former splendour. Today the city has lost a little of that neglected look and has become a tourist centre of primary importance. Museums have been opened, various films shot (not just Mel Gibson's The Passion) and many others are in the pipeline. Matera attracts directors with is archaic and legendary beauty, but it is also that which surrounds it which seduces the visitor: breathtaking ravines, crevices and gorges in a calcarenite land which is 800 thousand years old, terribly brittle and for this reason reconverted, in ancient times, into some of the most beautiful places of worship: the rupestrian churches

Spain - Extremadura conquers the world

2008-10-08

A frontier region, Extremadura (which means land beyond the Douro river) is one of the most depressed areas in Spain. However, it's also one of the most attractive, with its vine and tobacco cultivations, the rivers which flow towards the Atlantic, the arid sierras and the grasslands used for pasture. Today, many snob it and cross it quickly on their way to Andalusia or Portugal. But those who stop are seduced by its history. That of the Romans, who left behind roads, bridges, aqueducts and amphitheatres (the Mérida Roman Museum is one of the most important outside of Rome). And that of the Extremaduran conquistadores, pig breeders who left to conquer the New World. They came from Plasencia, from Cáceres, from Trujillo. Their names? Hernan Cortés, the Pizarro brothers, Francisco de Orellana, Nuñez de Balboa and Pedro de Valdivia

Japan - Tokyo, manga city

2008-10-08

Ancient capital of a shogunate, in 400 years Tokyo has become the largest urban conglomeration in the world. The capital of a country which in 50 years notwithstanding the scanty resources has managed to pass from a humiliated empire to the largest creditor on the world scene. Tokyo alone has a GDP equal to that of Spain; a growth which isn't hindered by the imperceptible seismic tremors which are registered each day. Rebuilt after the 1923 earthquake and the Second World War bombings, Tokyo has grown pragmatically, paying little attention to design and following the new railway system. A Manga city, as it's been called: highly competitive, efficient and of brief duration, rapidly built and rapidly demolished when necessary. Throwaway, just like Manga comics

France - French Basque Country, the other side of the South

2008-10-06

It's the city which mocks Pamplona by letting cows loose in the street. It's the city which gave shelter to Spanish Basques fleeing Francoism and Jewish chocolate makers running from the Inquisition. This is Bayonne, the capital of a different Southern France, harsh and Atlantic, which has nothing in common with the refinement of Provence or the Cote d'Azur. It's the France of the Basque Country, a slice of Aquitaine which from the Ocean rises up to the Pyrénées, homeland of a mysterious people called the Euskaldunak, but whom everyone knows as Basques. The Parisians love passing their summer months here, in this French California, amongst the wild beaches of Anglet, or in the sophisticated and exclusive Biarritz

Angola - Ethnic mix

2008-10-05

The southern area of Angola is inhabited by a range of peoples who were isolated for a long while. They are small ethnic groups who, for the most part, live off stock farming in a semi-nomadic state, moving their kraal across a vast territory north of the Cunene river, which marks the boundary with Namibia. Many are grouped into exogamous tribal societies based on matrilineal descent. The women's role is very important, as the transfer of livestock property (fundamental for herding societies) passes through the mother's brother. The women are also responsible for the magical rites which communicate with the ancestral world

D/La Repubblica - Australia West Coast

2008-10-01

D/La Repubblica - Lima Lifestyle

2008-10-01

Spain - Percebes or death

2008-09-27

The percebe (gooseneck barnacle) is a highly prized mollusc much appreciated by gourmets: it grows along the rocky coast of north-western Spain, near Fisterra, and only in the precise point where the Atlantic waves break against the cliffs. In one of the most treacherous stretches of sea on the planet, a few hundred professional harvesters risk their lives each day in order to supply the market with percebes. They lower themselves down the rocks like mountaineers, with makeshift equipment, and toil to snatch this treasure away from the coast, with one eye always pointed towards the sea: because in any given moment, that wave, which for many of them in the past has signified death, could wash them away

France - Between surf and pelota

2008-09-26

It's midday in Espelette and two children are throwing a ball against the town fronton: they're playing pelota, a Basque sport which loses its origins in the labyrinth of time. Not far from Espelette, along the river Nive, huge yellow dinghies descend from the Pyrénées, defying the rapids at a breathtaking speed: on board are tourists with crash helmet, experiencing real rafting for the first time. The Nive nearly flows into the Atlantic, where every day, hundreds of teenagers arrive to catch the best waves in Europe. The long stretch of beach between Anglet and Saint-Jean de Luz is France's California, with thirty excellent locations, and where in 1957 Peter Viertel, the American scriptwriter, introduced surf into the Old Continent for the first time. In a region, that of the French Basque Country, which is decidedly sports oriented

Italy - Valtellina, heroic wine-growing

2008-09-24

Valtellina hosts the largest terraced area in Europe. Along the valley from Ardengo to Tirano, 2,500 kilometres of dry stone walls can be found: they hold up small plots of land where masterpieces such as the Sassella, Inferno and Sfurzàt wines grow and imagine what an effort is needed! Everything is still done by hand, walking up the slopes and pruning a few rows of vines at a time; some still descend with a pannier on their back, others have spent a lifetime keeping the walls intact. However, since the beginning of the century, the terraced land has diminished by three quarters. Here in Valtellina say the experts vines no longer represent a viable economic sustenance. That's why we've decided to propose the terracing as a Unesco Heritage Site. An attempt to save the last heroic wine-growers who still hold out on these hills

Belize - It's a country for old men

2008-09-23

As vast as Sardinia but with less than 300 thousand inhabitants, Belize abounds in pensioners who alone, in small groups or in communities come to live here more or less definitively. They are snowbirds, those who migrate south when it's cold in the north. Thanks to the white beaches and the constant warm climate, but thanks also to the government, which has decided to gamble on this type of enduring and profitable tourism. They call it the the retirement industry. Those who are chosen by the Belize Tourism Board (you must be over 45 and have a minimum pension of 2,000 dollars) become qualified retired persons and from that moment on, their privileges are covered by the 1999 Retired Persons (Incentives) Act, a law which, amongst other things, grants the possibility to transfer family, cars, boats and even aeroplanes into Belize.

Russia - Swimming, Kamasutra style

2008-09-21

It's strange enough for one person to throw himself into an icy river with a blow-up doll. For 600 to do the same thing is frankly worrying. Yet, this is what happens each year at the end of August in Lesovo, a rural village near Saint Petersburg. It's a competition called the Bubble Baba Challenge. The rules: to swim for nearly a kilometre along the Vuoksa river rapids, to come out alive and most importantly, not to lose your companion, a blow-up doll. This is the testimony of one of the craziest, yet extremely demanding, sports competitions in the world

Italy - Naples, coral capital

2008-09-18

Many call it the coral coast. Amalfi was already exporting it to Syria in the IX century. Naples handled the markets for centuries and Torre del Greco, whose fishermen would venture up to the African coasts, has today become the coral capital: the best craftsmen in the world can be found here, who work ninety percent of the coral harvested in the Mediterranean. Naples has always been associated with coral because here it is collected and, above all, here it has been worked for centuries. This red gold can be found in the city's churches and museums, in fashionable boutiques, worn by a greengrocer under form of a crucifix, or around a lady's neck as she walks down via Toledo. These small branches of calcium carbonate haven't lost their charm and many still believe in their special powers. One above all? The business.

Italy - Those bluesmen along the Po river

2008-09-17

The Po river like the Mississippi, Brescello and Correggio like a Po valley Memphis. Concerts held on barges which resemble Clarksdale juke joints or the Louisiana dives. Because, between Parma and Modena, in that flat stretch of land which lies between the via Emilia and the great river, lives the largest community of Italian bluesmen. Musicians who have embraced a philosophy, a style, a sound of the soul sums up Luciano Ligabue not caring about fashions, trends or the road to success. There are those who have created strange nicknames for themselves and others who go to concerts on horseback, those who cradled an acoustic guitar once and never let it go, and those who teach the harmonica whilst navigating along the Po. The bluesman? He plays that which he is declares Oracle King and he doesn't try to resemble anybody else

Japan - The art of thanking a cashpoint

2008-09-15

A man walks through Akihabara, the largest hi-tech market on earth. Suddenly, he enters an alleyway, opens a door, moves the curtains, undresses and lowers himself into a tub of boiling water. Yude-dako! he exclaims smiling, I'm a boiled octopus. There are two types of Japan. There's the computer-based, efficient, frenetic one. That, which as some would say, modernized itself without becoming Westernised. And there's the traditional Japan, unchanged over the centuries. The one which wears a kimono and is moved by a cherry tree in flower, or thanks a cashpoint with a bow. The Japan of he who passes with naturalness from total chaos to the tranquillity of a warm public bath, the sentō, or goes in search of perfect hospitality with a tea ceremony. A Japan which exists, one just has to look for it

Italy - Sulcis, Sardinian eco-chic

2008-09-15

From the sensational dunes of Porto Pino up to the limestone hills of the Iglesiente pitted with dozens of old mining sites can be found a little frequented and somewhat wild Sardinia. A territory which is aiming for a strong international relaunch both at a tourist and environmental level, thanks to various upgrading and transformation plans for the vast sites once dedicated to the working and extraction of its minerals. An ambitious plan to transform a wild and scenically extraordinary part of the island into a sort of new Emerald Coast, surely less snob, but with an eco-chic style. For now, it remains a relatively downscale holiday resort, almost homely. A province rich in history, nature, gastronomy and traditions, to be explored by bike, perhaps, or on foot

Canada - Red Autumn

2008-09-10

Every autumn, a phantasmagoric show of foliage goes on display throughout the woods of Quebec. The maple trees, like victims of the whims of a flamboyant painter, begin to take on colours which turn from yellow to orange up to the more intense tones of red. But if the poets worship this season 'bittersweet...perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter' (Carol Bishop Hipps), the scientists make us come back down to earth, explaining that it's only chemistry and that the plants don't turn red just to make us happy, but due to a modified relationship between soil, leaves and daylight, thus producing useful anthocyanins in order to get through the winter

Mauritania - Sand and caravan crossroads

2008-09-09

Ouadâne is decrepit and proud, once the crossroads of Western Africa. Here gold is bartered for Granada silks wrote Alvise da Ca' da Mosto in the middle of the 15th century, and many other articles from Sudan, the Niger, Sicily and Portugal are traded. In six centuries Mauritania hasn't changed. Today, as in the past, notwithstanding the colonialisms, the droughts and the coup d'ètats, a wonderful crossroads of cultures remains. The meeting point between the Berber Africa of the Maghreb and the black Africa of the vast Sudanese empires. Of course, the commercial caravans no longer exist. The country is underdeveloped, it has few internal connections and the unforgiving sand erodes ten kilometres of grazing land a year. But its rugged beauty, its fishermen, its libraries in the desert, are still able to enchant the traveller

Canada - The Sea River

2008-09-06

The Saint Lawrence River, which measures 1,200 km from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic, with an average discharge of 10,400 m3 per second and a drainage basin covering 1 million km2, is at the centre of the life and the history of Quebec. The first European to adventure here was the Frenchman, Jacques Cartier, who in 1535, ventured as far as the present day Montreal, where he came up against insuperable rapids. 50 years ago, a system of locks and canals made it possible to navigate into the heart of America. But the river's history is that of its inhabitants: sailors, fishermen and lighthouse keepers, not forgetting the huge cetaceans who come to replenish themselves with plankton and the snow geese who follow them during their annual migration

Nepal - New year dance in the Tibetan refuge

2008-09-05

They call it little Lhasa but it's the Buddhist's Vatican above all. In February, Bodhnath, suburb of Kathmandu, celebrates the Losar, the Tibetan new year. One of the few places on earth where, after the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959, one can still come into contact with a Tibetan culture which is free to express itself. At new year, the pilgrims arrive from all corners of Nepal and descend from the Himalayan regions to take part in the lama's masked dances, the ceremonies, the purifications. For the merchants who cross the Himalayas, Bodhnath has always been considered a point of arrival, the door to Kathmandu. At the end of the trip, they have always gathered around its stupa to thank the divinities. And even today, those who prepare to climb the mountain, still stop here to light a candle, in the warm Kathmandu plains

United States - Birthplace of the elitist guitar

2008-09-03

What do B.B. King, Frank Zappa, Eric Clapton, Slash and Keith Richards have in common? They´ve all played a Gibson. The wildest guitar in the world. It´s the most esteemed, for its first-class handcrafted quality (they´re all handmade), the exclusive use of fine woods such as mahogany and maple for the legendary Les Paul model and a decidedly high price. A legend, that of the Gibson, born over a hundred years ago, when Orville Gibson, a lute-maker, began to make mandolins in Michigan. His company was the first to market electric guitars in 1936, but found market contention at the beginning of the fifties with the arrival of its greatest rival, the more economic Fender. Which has never managed, however, to equal the Gibson´s quality. And its myth, which still permeates the company offices in Memphis, Tennessee

Canada - Québec, eight dogs and a sledge

2008-08-20

Saguenay is rural Quebec´s heart of independence , a cold royaume, where in winter the thermometer drops to minus forty degrees and the snow covers everything. Ever done dog sledding? smiles Dirk when I arrive in Chicoutimi. It´ll be easy, wait and see. A couple of hours later and my six dogs are running like mad behind the sledge of David, the guide. They brush the edges of paths which resemble bob runs, passing under tree trunks bent over like arches by the snow, and, after having jumped a couple of ditches, we find ourselves on a flat, whitened table. It´s one of the many frozen lakes which can be found in this area: Study the map, you´ll see that we´re on the edge of nothing. The road ends here and for 3,000 km north, there´s not a living soul....

Yemen - 7th Commandment: thou shalt not steal (in God's garden)

2008-08-13

Like a garden of Eden or a land of Avila, Socotra is a hidden secret not to be gathered, with its trees of knowledge and life, unique species which here have mythical names such as Dragon's Blood or Desert Rose. Socotra is a botanical jewel south of Yemen, isolated for thousands of years in the middle of the Indian Ocean, whose powerful monsoons makes it inaccessible for six months a year. Virgin and unexplored, it is slowing opening up to tourism and investments from the Arab Emirates will soon arrive. For now, Yemen is doing its best to preserve its uniqueness: botanists on a recent international mission, for example, were subject to rigorous controls, in the fear that they could export the fabulous seeds of the Socotra plants along with the specimens. God's garden is here, and here it must remain!

Peru - Arequipa, the city of white tuff

2008-07-24

Manuel, 35, is down in the canyon breaking up rocks at 6 in the morning. Casimiro, 63, rolls up a wad of ash and coca and pops it into his mouth, in order to better support the fatigue. It's a job which is handed down from father to son explains the man. If all goes well, at the end of the day he will have earned 15 sol, a little more than 3 euros. Manuel, Casimiro and all the other miners excavate sillar from the volcanic quarries north of Arequipa, the spectacular white city in the south of the country, which owes its name to the colour of the tuffaceous rock which has shaped its churches and buildings. At an altitude of 2,000 meters, surrounded by volcanoes (such the famous El Misti), Arequipa has often been destroyed by earthquakes and eruptions, but has always risen again from the ashes. Thanks to the white stone in its mines

Afghanistan - Mozart vs. Taliban

2008-07-20

A little while ago, the Afghan National Institute of Music opened in Kabul, in a half-destroyed building which is currently being restored. Its founder, Ahmad Sarmast, a famous Afghan musician (and son of the national anthem's composer) returned from exile in Australia with the precise intention to make his ambitious initiative come to life, backed by the government and the World Bank: to create a school which will shape a new generation of Afghan musicians, who no longer exist, ever since the Taliban wiped them out or sent them fleeing. Many of the students are street children who Sarmast has saved from a life of beggary and taken out of orphanages. Giving them a future in music, he says, means giving a glimmer of hope to the country.

Afghanistan - Misplaced paradise

2008-07-20

Band-e-Amir is a mountainous region 170 km west of Kabul and about 50 km west of the Bamyan valley, where the colossal Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban mortars in 2001 could be found. Here, a series of natural travertine dams have given origin to crystal-blue lakes, creating one of the country's most spectacular landscapes. Since the fall of the Taliban, Band-e-Amir is one of the most popular weekend retreats for the few Afghans who can afford the uncomfortable and costly ride from the capital. And, as from May 2009, it's officially become the first Afghan national park. A paradise which, unfortunately, is still surrounded by hell.

Italy - The long voyage of the glass beads

2008-07-18

The Venetian glass production has roots in antique traditions tied to roman glass production. In 1764 the Muranese glass production produced 19.00 kgs. Of beads a week, almost exclusively reserved for exportation, in particular to the African market where the glass beads became an important merchandise of exchange which many African populations used as a currency. Every factory had its own antique recipes which constituted the cultural patrimony of the glass works, where the secret of the mixes to obtain coloured transparent and opaque glass were jealously guarded. Recipes which even today are still securely conserved and utilized by today´s master glass makers, to render their glass unique and inimitable

Afghanistan - The Last Kabul Jew

2008-07-17

His name is Zabolon Simantov. He lives in poverty in a two-roomed flat not far from Chicken Street, with its antiques shops. Every week he turns on the lights of the synagogue next door: its a ritual he wants to keep alive, even if in vain, because there are no more Jews in Kabul for whom to conduct the Shabbat service. Simantov is the last remaining Jew in Kabul, and probably the whole of Afghanistan too. He mourns for the Najibullah era, when the Jewish community was welcome in the country. Miraculously, he has survived the Taliban and has never given in to the temptation to emigrate to Israel: Here I was born he says and here I want to die.

Peru - Natural Style

2008-07-11

Forget Cusco, the buses packed with tourists and multicoloured markets. Instead, the heart of Peru is a green universe, silent, made up of unexplored jungles, isolated villages, meandering rivers, imposing volcanoes and stunning agricultural plateaus. Peru boasts 8 national parks, 11 reserved zones, 8 protected reserves, 6 natural sanctuaries and 10 national forests. About 10% of the state-controlled territory is today safeguarded. A wealth which makes Peru one of the most bio-diverse countries in the world. Equatorial forests, coastal deserts, semi-Antarctic islands, mountain lakes, steppes and savannahs make up no less than 84 different ecosystems. A record, considering that those classified on our planet at the present time are only 104. A world to be explored on foot, with a 4x4, by boat or on a mule. For a journey, natural style

Iran - On the shopping island, where Iran has fun

2008-07-01

Kish is a flat island twenty kilometres from Iran. It has five mosques, a hospital and a prestigious university. But these numbers don't convey the full picture. Kish and the nearby Qeshm are the two pearls of the Persian Gulf, and for the Iranians they represent what Hawaii is for the Americans or Sardinia for the Italians. A paradise just a stone's throw away from home, offering white beaches and a clean sea all year round. With a difference: Kish is a free trade zone. A huge duty-free where everything costs less; where one can pay indifferently in euros, dollars, rial or dirham. And where anyone can get in without a visa, obtaining a two week permit on-the-spot. Kish is a laboratory for the new Iran to come; a moral free trade zone where the veils worn are less heavy than in Teheran and shopping borders on western excesses

Tuvalu - Welcome to Atlantis

2008-06-17

Tuvalu: nine atolls, 26 square kilometres, 11,000 inhabitants. The fourth smallest state in the world, lost in the middle of the Pacific, almost on top of the date line. In 2050, according to the UN report on climatic change, it will have completely disappeared, engulfed by the ocean, whose level is relentlessly rising due to global warming: and the Tuvaluans, suddenly frightened by the sea on whose shores they have always lived and in the desperate search for a new homeland, will become the first climatic refugees in history

Nigeria - The black Hollywood

2008-06-01

In Nigeria, the cinema is an industry worthy of the highest respect, not least for the fact that it lies in fourth place in the economy of the world´s eighth largest oil exporter. Some figures: about two thousand films produced each year, two hundred million DVDs sold in Africa, Europe and America, twenty thousand actors, a turnover estimated by defect of half a billion euros. And a name: Nollywood. After Hollywood and Bollywood, it´s the third largest film colossus in the world, specialised in impossible love stories, the gangster genre, and a touch of neorealism. There´s also the night of the stars, the unmissable, self-congratulatory moment of a money machine which produces ten percent of the country´s gross domestic product

Peru - Iquitos on the verge of a nervous breakdown

2008-05-29

Iquitos is the capital of the Loreto region, in the Peruvian Amazon, and is considered unanimously to be the noisiest, most chaotic and unbearable city in the country. The reason for this record is a diabolical machine known as the motokar. It's just a simple three-wheeled motor-taxi, but what makes it lethal is its numbers: in Iquitos, a city of 300 thousand inhabitants, there are more than thirty thousand motor-taxis in circulation. In 2008, not knowing what other measures to take against the din, the municipal committee of Iquitos turned to the children: high school children were asked to paint murals regarding this theme on the house façades. The result is a city covered with bewildered, suffering faces, hands covering ears, mouths twisted into a shout of: Enough!

Jordan - A river in pain

2008-05-29

The most sacred river in the world is in danger: throttled by dams which draw from its bed in Syrian and Israeli territory, downstream from Lake Tiberias, the Jordan, which marks the border between Israel and the Kingdom of Jordan, is a pathetic muddy trickle, the waters heavily polluted by sewerage and industrial systems. Yet, along its entire course down to the Dead Sea (also in danger of drying up), it's the main water source for the Jordanian farmers, as well as a place of pilgrimage for Christians the world over, who come to Bethany, Christ's baptism site, unaware that they are immersing themselves in a river which is filthier than the Ganges.

Iran - Zurkaneh, holy wrestling

2008-05-29

The Zurkhaneh, a typical Iranian discipline, is a sport, but also a dance, a public display of physical ability and a collective religious rite, born with the cult of Mitra and today revisited in favour of Shiite Islam. The athletes respond to the master's exhortations, who beats time with a drum and recites verses from the Koran. Moving in time to the rhythm, the men launch themselves into wild pirouettes. Next, they grab the large wooden clubs, throwing them up into the air and catching them as they fall. The drumbeat changes, it becomes faster, and the men dance, swinging the heavy chains. The spectators don't pay to watch. Everything is for our own benefit say those who practice the Zurkhaneh, and that of God.

Australia - Along the Murray River, Australia's Mississippi

2008-05-25

The Murray is the greatest Australian river, rising from the Snowy Mountains and flowing for 2,600 kilometres down to Adelaid. But it's not just a mere watercourse: in these regions, in a dry land unlike few others in the world, the Murray represents life. For years it was the continent's only highway: when Mark Twain visited it at the end of the nineteenth century, the American writer compared it with "his" Mississippi, struck by the number of paddle steamers navigating in its waters. A world made up of sabotages, ruthless competition and great riches which was the fortune of river ports such as Echuca, Wentworth and Mildura. Today the barges no longer transport vegetables, wool bales and lumber, yet they are still visible: carrying tourists who want to relive the adventure of navigating the river which made Australia.

Yemen - 13 Women against Al-Qaeda

2008-05-22

In Yemen, thirteen veiled women, dangerous and armed to the teeth, have chosen a life of battles. The enemies are two, terrorism and prejudice, the weapons to combat them, different: for the first, an assault light machine gun, for the second, to exist is enough. For the Yemeni society, chronically chauvinist, the thirteen women (or rather, girls: they are no older than twenty) in question are the equivalent of a revolution or, depending on one's point of view, a disgrace: they form part of the special police antiterrorism squad, one of the country's most prestigious military corps, and they don't have any intention of leaving.

Jordan - Eco adventures

2008-05-21

The most peaceful and restrained of all middle eastern countries is at a marketing crossroads. Should it just be famous for its beautiful queen, Dead Sea salts and the popular city of Petra, or should it carve out a new eco-chic market for the community of globe-trotting travellers? In terms of environmental resources, Jordan is one of the richest countries in the neighbouring east, and is characterised by a unique biodiversity: in just a few kilometres one passes from the desert to mountain oases, from coral reefs to canyons, from the northern wetlands overflowing with bird life, up to the Alpine habitats in the west-central regions. The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, in collaboration with the government, has the duty to protect these extraordinary natural habitats scattered between Israel, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

El Salvador - La Ruta de la Paz

2008-05-20

Transmitiendo desde algun lugar remoto de El Salvador, esta es Radio Venceremos, la voz del pueblo para todo el pueblo.This is how the guerillas forming part of the Farabundo Martì National Liberation Front (FMLN), who from 1981 to 1992 fought against the extreme right wing Salvadorian regime, began their radio transmissions. Today we have returned to visit the locations which were the settings for some of the most shocking and appalling war actions, such as the slaughter of 800 civilians and 400 children in the village of El Mozote, carried out by special army units trained by the Americans. We return to tread an imaginary Ruta de la Paz (Road of Peace) to discover a country which is slowly trying to forget its darkest years in order to start living again and display its cultural and naturalistic wonders.

Poland - The Free City´ of Danzig

2008-05-08

Danzig appears to be a city of tragic fate. An important Baltic port since the 16th century, the city was the setting for some of the most important events which occurred during the 20th century. Contested by Germans and Poles, the city was declared Free City after the First World War, and placed under the control of the League of Nations. In 1939 its occupation by the Nazis marked the start of the Second World War. At the end of the war, all that remained was a heap of rubble and its inhabitants began reconstructing the ancient Medieval houses one by one. In 1980, the struggles by the Solidarność movement in the Lenin shipyards led to the collapse of the entire Communist block.

Brazil - Salaam Brazil

2008-05-07

In the Tres Fronteras region between Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, the lingua franca is Arabic: on both sides of the Paraná and Iguazú rivers, which define the boundary between the three countries and which host a flourishing smuggling trade, live tens of thousands of Lebanese Shiites, Sunnites and Christians. The majority of them are traders and they exploit the Paraguayan free port of Ciudad del Este for their businesses. But some of them, according to the authorities, finance Al Qaeda, or, in some cases, are active members of international Islamic terrorism, who, aided by police corruption and the frontier´s penetrability, here have found a quiet corner where to plan their activities

D/La Repubblica - Cape Town voices

2008-05-01

Italy - Apulia, rediscovering the rupestrian churches

2008-04-30

It´s midnight in Ginosa and the congregation of confraternity members is preparing a torchlight procession towards the Mother church. Tonight there´s the vigil of the patronal festival, an appointment not to be missed, which fills the city with lights and stalls. The real protagonist is the church, splendid with her geometric facade overlooking a craggy ravine, abounding in ancient presences, places of worship carved into the rock which go back into the mists of time. Southern Apulia teems with such locations and these marvels are worthy of a tourist revival. Many of the rupestrian churches are embellished with well preserved frescos which probably date back more than a thousand years, to the era of Byzantine domination, when Basilian monks fleeing from Cappadocia. But there are those who maintain that the phenomenon goes back further.

Dominican Republic - Santo Domingo´s black soul

2008-04-28

Everyone considers Santo Domingo one of the most popular Caribbean all-inclusive holiday village locations. But Santo Domingo is more than this. Within its boundaries there is an extremely active Haitian community, a slice of Africa in the Caribbean. The Dominican Republic Haitians carry out all the most strenuous and worst paid jobs: from cane sugar cutters, to salt collectors, from miners to prostitutes. They´ve also brought traditions and beliefs into this country, such as voudou and witchcraft, imported directly from the African slaves and transformed into different forms of syncretism.

Cuba - Revolution 2.0

2008-04-27

In the year of the revolution´s fiftieth anniversary, Fidel has left the limelight and winds of change are blowing throughout the island. His brother Raul has taken over and immediately popular technology has become legal all over the country. People in Havana are queuing up to buy mobile phones, microwave ovens or DVD players. Computers and LCD televisions are appearing inside shopping malls alongside electric bicycles and modern washing machines. There´s less fear to show the money inside socialist pockets. Fashion shows and rock concerts are being held, there´s better food on the tables and benefits allowed if one works for a foreign company, while Obama and the Usa are completely re-thinkng their policy on Cuba.

Brazil - Florianopolis, Eurobeach

2008-04-21

Florianopolis, state of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil. Or, better still, Europe: this is the first impression that the city and the beaches which surround it, give to those who arrive here. Santa Catarina, colonized as from the start of the XIX century by waves of Italians, Azoreans and Germans, is the most European state in the federation, both in its exterior appearance and in its inhabitants´ way of life. As for the Brazilians, incurable pro-Europeans, the sea around the island upon which Florianopolis rises, is the chichiest holiday destination.

Peru - Ayahuasca: a hallucination will cure you

2008-04-07

Pisaq, Peru. Twenty American citizens arrive in this isolated locality in the sacred Valley of the Incas, ready to take, under the supervision of a shaman, that which is universally considered to be a drug. It´s name is ayahuasca, an Amazonian root which is used for the preparation of a strongly hallucinogenic decoction, which promises (and in fact produces) a profound psychological experience: a couple of hours of self-awareness which many agree is the equivalent of ten years of psychoanalysis concentrated in one night. Amongst these Americans, enticed here by skilful marketing which is turning ayahuasca into an international business, there aren´t only old beat generation groupies, but also doctors and scientists, convinced that the root´s active principles can cure drug addictions and numerous psychopathologies.

Tunisia - Tunis : old postcards from the medina

2008-04-04

Tunis is one of the most modern and European cities in Africa, but its core reveals inevitable contrasts. Its medina, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is undergoing important restoration works to restore the old palaces to their former splendour. But in the more working-class area, a couple of hundred metres from the roads trodden by groups of tourists in search of free exoticism, survives a world made up of markets, small cafes, old hammamat, artisans and sordid brothels. A world which refuses to conform with the globalization which is invading the whole planet. The photos in this reportage have been taken today, but, if we eliminate just a few details, they could have been taken many years ago.

D/La Repubblica - Peru: Amazonas.com

2008-04-01

Mali - Living inside a mud sculpture

2008-04-01

In the basins of the Niger river and lake Chad, today known as Sahel, we can find a wide diffusion of bancò (raw clay) houses with particularly refined shapes. Even religious and social buildings such as mosques, or saho (common houses where the youths Bozo live) are made from mud, notwithstanding their imposing dimensions. Further south, other peoples build houses with anthropomorphic shapes, such as the Kasena and Lobi, who live between Burkina Faso and Ghana, whilst the Somba/Tamberma, who live between Benin and Togo, construct fortified houses like Medieval castles, all rigorously made from mud. Even in Mauritania, the city of Oulata, and the region populated by the Soninkè, abound in mud houses decorated with geometric designs tied to the Islam. At the moment UNESCO is taking care of the restoration of some architectures.

Eritrea - Meskel, the bonfire of plenty

2008-03-28

Do you know that Christianity arrived in Eritrea by chance? explains father Abraha as he watches the Meskel parade. It disembarked with a group of Syrian merchants who were shipwrecked along the coast of the Red Sea on their way back from India. Today, at least half of the inhabitants in Eritrea profess to be Christians, Coptic-Orthodox for the most part. The festivals falls in mid September: the Meskel, during which the retrieval of Christ´s cross by Saint Helen, mother of Constantine I, in the Holy Lands is celebrated. According to legend, it was the smoke from a bonfire which indicated where the remains of the cross were buried. The same bonfire which today, in Asmara will reveal the future of the country if the pyre falls eastwards.

Indonesia - Dancing amongst Javanese volcanoes

2008-03-27

They call it Kejawen, the religious mix which in Indonesia has merged together Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and ancient local beliefs. The island of Java as vast as Greece, 130 million inhabitants dominates the archipelago from all view points: political, economic, social. However, especially in the central area, amongst paddy fields at sunset, majestic temples and the royal baths of the Javanese kings, the tofu producers of Sawahan and the villages where dancers perform to the rhythm of the gamelan orchestras, Java still has wild corners, traditional, of rare beauty. Where the unpredictable gumung api, the volcanoes, which bring destruction, but also life (the ashes make this terrain one of the most fertile on earth), are tied to spiritual divinities. To be honoured periodically with dances, prayers and offerings, even money.

Libya - Ghadames, invisible oasis

2008-03-26

Finally, 600 kilometres south of Tripoli, appears Ghadames, one of the best preserved Saharan cities. 45 thousand palm trees, a profile marked by varying levels of flat roofs, ochre coloured walls embellished with swallow-tailed merlons (against the evil eye) and cloud-white minarets. The hypogeous oasis is still extraordinarily intact. A homogeneous accumulation of mud and lime brick buildings with palm tree beams, the result of centuries of additions and modifications, always following traditional models and plans, essential, harmonious and coherent. Since the city develops nearly entirely under cover, to defend itself from the heat and wind, it´s also a perfect example of natural bio-insulation. That's why Italo Balbo, used to fly there for the weekends on his three-engined Savoia Marchetti airplane.
(Text by Renato Scagliola)

Niger - The narcissists of the savannah

2008-03-14

For the nomad Woodabe cattle-herders who live in the torrid expanses of the Niger Sahel, there are only two important things in life. The cow, real object of devotion (and nourishment), and beauty. Each year, between September and October, when the Sahel grasslands permit the assemblage of a large number of herds, the young cattle-herders, who for the rest of the year wander with the bovines in the search for a tuft of grass, know it´s time to meet for the Gerewol, a festival where the girls dress-up, and parade in songs and dances with slow and sinuous rhythms. It´s a fleeting moment, to be at one´s best in order to win the heart of the girls, who will choose the handsomest man in the festival.

Italy - Volterra, no way out

2008-03-12

Tuscany, Volterra: a maximum security State prison inside a 13th century fortress, where Count Ugolino, mentioned by Dante in the Divine Comedy, served his sentence. Today it hosts 140 prisoners, many mass murderers, none with a sentence of less than twenty years: many of them pass part of their hour´s recreation in the gym or in the ancient courtyard fitted out for body building. They do it to keep fit, to have the advantage in a possible fight. And mostly, so as not to go crazy.

Eritrea - Return to little Rome

2008-03-11

Asmara is a seventy year´s jump back in time. In the Italy of Odeon cinemas and beveled mirrors, of Tagliero garages and pensioners in colonial straw hats enjoying an ice-cream at the small tables of the bar Impero. The Italians transformed a small shepherds village at an altitude of 2347 meters into that which was to become Little Rome. Today, Asmara should be seen from above. One can see the Catholic cathedral, the Coptic one, then, to the east, the Jewish synagogue and right behind it the large mosque built by the Italians. Because here the Christians are in the majority, but all the major religions are represented and respected. There was a mayor once, after the liberation, who loved exclaiming Friday I pray in the mosque, Saturday in the synagogue and Sunday in church. One God is bound to help me sooner or later..

Italy - Cheers, Oltrepo Pavese

2008-03-10

Uncork a bottle of Barbacarlo wine and raise a glass to the sky. It´s the best way to explore the Oltrepo Pavese, perhaps on the steps of the sports journalist and Italian writer, Gianni Brera. Explore the Oltrepo, glass after glass, tavern after tavern, tableful after tableful (of friends). Brera was born on the left bank of the Po, in San Zenone, and from Milan he enjoyed returning frequently to visit this fertile, genuine land, a damp corner of Lombardy wedged between Piedmont and Emilia. He also returned to visit his friends, such as the legendary Lino Maga, the only person to produce the real Barbacarlo, a frothy wine obtained from a few vines amongst the Broni hills. Or Mario Musoni, the king of the risottos as he used to call him, the chef who was elected the best cook in Lombardy during the The Thursday Club evenings.

Eritrea - Save Massawa

2008-03-06

With easy mooring, Massawa is without a doubt the loveliest port on the Red Sea noted the Italian delegate, Ferdinando Martini, in 1896. Massawa is the other side of Christian Eritrea, a city, which with its arches, its arabesques, its labyrinth of narrow alleyways, looks towards the Islamic East. Of course, violated by bombings, Massawa is no longer the pearl of the Red Sea, the largest port along the east coast of Africa. Once, the most important commercial routes passed through here, and this is the reason why Arabs, Turks, Portuguese, and then French, English and Italians fought for this location. Today some progress is being made, travellers are returning to walk these dusty streets and a few entrepreneurs are starting to invest money here. But more is needed: the old city is falling apart and nobody is doing anything to help.

Israel - Sixty years of solitude

2008-03-06

Israel turns sixty: an age which urges human beings to take stock of their life, and which is usually the prelude for a period of serenity. But not in the case of this Middle Eastern State: just like the day after its birth in 1948, Israel still feels isolated and under siege, in a condition which is anything but peaceful. And it suffers (or perhaps in some way benefits) from the vast contrast between the ultra-Orthodox side of society, unerringly tied to religious traditions, and the more lay and progressive side, for whom the Shabbat isn´t the sacred day for resting and praying, but an excellent opportunity to try out a new surfboard.
(Text by Sergio Ramazzotti available upon request)

Malawi - The warm heart of AIDS

2008-02-28

The warm heart of Africa cite the brochures. Yet Malawi is also one of the poorest countries in the world and has been associated for 20 years with the worst acronym of the new millennium, AIDS. During the British protectorate there were two hospitals in the capital, Lilongwe, one for the whites and one for the blacks. The white hospital, the Livingstone, was on the top of a flowered hill. The black hospital, called Bottom, was only a step away from a stagnant river. Here, they´re still hitting rock bottom: in 19th century buildings which are falling to bits, no medicines and just enough staff, can be found the unfortunate maternity ward. Why unfortunate? Because in Malawi, 15% of the women who give birth are HIV positive. And the transmission of the virus from mother to child represents 30% of all the new cases of HIV in the country.

Lithuania - Vilnius, the Uzupis Republic

2008-02-28

The Republic of Uzupis is one of a kind artistic enclave, with peculiar ideas and specific cultural projects. A proper Art Inkubator, as today is usually remarked. Until yesterday it was no more than a political paradox located in the heart of Vilnius. A brilliant idea, socially helpful, which tried to transform a degraded area, enclosed by the small Vilnia river bends, into an ideal micro-state linked to the rest of the world by seven bridges only. Uzupis was a weird idea born as a joke on april the first in the year 2000, conceived to conquer again the soul of the area, turning that ugly world into a creative place where life can be taken easy and where bohemien dreams can be lived freely.
(Text by Davide Scagliola available upon request)

Indonesia - Sumba, in the island of the spirits

2008-02-27

As vast as Corsica, 400 kilometres east of Bali, Sumba is not just one of the 18,000 islands which make up the Indonesian archipelago. It´s isolation has preserved all the best it has to offer: slow rhythms, a life based around agricultural cycles, virgin beaches and ancient megalithic tombs. And, above all, one of the most fascinating and mysterious cultures in the whole of Indonesia. Here, there are still bloody clashes between tribes for a question of honour, and all carry a parang, the sharp bladed knife. But that which is of primary importance in Sumba officially ninety percent Christian is the veneration of the dead, whose tombs rise up in the middle of the villages: according to the animist Marapu cult, it´s the ancestors who protect the living in this life, and only a worthy funeral can make their spirit ascend into the sky.

Palestine - A day in the life of the West Bank

2008-02-21

Driving from Ramallah to Nablus a continual alternation of Palestinian villages and settlements of Jewish colonists is like covering a chessboard, not as a king, but as a simple pawn, knowing that you can´t step on other squares, only those of your colour, and that in no case is it permitted to cross the borders. The wall built by Israel, as high as a three storey building, has condemned an entire nation to an open-ended imprisonment, without a trial and with the collective charge of terrorism. The Palestinians aren´t in a cell, they´ve just been enclosed in a large yard, a sort of lifetime hours´ recreation: in whatever direction they walk, sooner or later they´ll come up against the wall. Provided they get there: before, there´s an Israeli army checkpoint, and no certainty to pass beyond it. Yet, life goes on.

Yemen - Ex Arabia felix

2008-02-19

Ancient Arabia Felix, called thus by the Romans, is today a country with practically no vegetation, underdeveloped and strictly tied to Islamic law, where, away from the large cities, every self-respecting man carries a light machinegun slung over his shoulders. The only remains of Arabia Felix are imposing and crumbling vestiges, which the Unesco interventions have saved, but often defaced. And, unique to the Islamic world, the tradition of dedicating at least three hours a day to chewing qat: a local drug, which, considered sinful by the more Orthodox Islamic fringe groups, has up to now prevented the Yemen forming part of the Arab League.

Chile - Santiago boom boom

2008-02-19

When Pedro de Valdivia founded it in 1541, he drew inspiration from the frontier. From that Santiago de Compostela which was the furthermost territory before an unexplored ocean. Thus, Santiago de Chile was born, then a humble village in a valley at the foot of the Andes, today a huge city and Latin America´s real financial capital, where the most powerful multinationals on earth have decided to locate their South American bases. Here, in Greater Santiago, which also includes Valparaiso and Concepción, lives one Chilean in three. Nevertheless, the city is liveable, elegant, with its crowded but dynamic Paseo Ahumada, full of parks and museums, yet refined, with Liberty houses and colonial residences. Such as the Palacio de la Moneda, where the old mint was located and where President Allende tried to hold back Pinochet´s army.

Australia - Waltzing Matilda

2008-02-18

Waltzing Matilda is a popular Australian song, a sort of second national anthem. It tells the story of a swagman who steals a sheep and, to escape from the police, drowns in a billabong, one of the many small isolated lakes in the Australian outback which are the remnants of a dry river. The Australian swagmen were roving workers, mainly sheep shearers, who travelled by foot for the most part, carrying a swag with them, a rolled-up blanket containing all their possessions, slung over their shoulders like a rifle. Today it simply means to travel around the outback with a sleeping bag and an off-road vehicle, on a walk about and along personal songlines. A universe of adventures and dreams in the heart of Down Under.

Africa - Botswana & Zambia

2008-02-18

Two perfect countries for a safari, where savannahs and alluvial plains, parks and nature reserves, luxury lodges and five star service become the African universe par excellence. Zambia and Botswana have infinite and exclusive itineraries, a far cry from the mass stereotype safaris of Kenya and Tanzania. Between the Kalahari Desert and the Chobe River, for example, there are thousands of square kilometres of nothingness where it's easy to meet communities of bushmen or migratory paths, sensational panoramas and atmospheres of ancient Africa. In Botswana, water safaris are organized on the innumerable canals which form the Okawango Delta, teeming with elephants, hippos, antelope, lions, gazelle and countless bird species. Walking safaris and luxurious bush camps, on the other hand, are very popular in Zambian national parks.

Mexico - Maya on the road

2008-02-16

Dust, archaeology, sea and forests. On the roads of Northern Mexico one goes far in time, following the traces of the Maya. From Merida to Palenque, from Uxmal to Xpujil, one lives on the road across the Chiapas region, Quintana Roo, Riviera Maya and the Yucatan peninsula. The Caribbean Sea is never far away: but with a little common sense one can ignore the hundreds of all-inclusive resorts which invade the coast and discover a world made up of silences, jungles, extraordinary ruins, villages, islands, agaves, cacti and biospheres. All you need are 4 wheels, a map and a good history book. A jump in the cenotes, a swim in Punta Allen, a tour of Chiapas and a night under the stars of Tulum sounds pretty good

Chile - The Atacama festival

2008-02-14

It takes place at summer´s end, when the heat is bearable and the pilgrims follow ancient desert paths at an altitude of 3,000 metres. All are headed for Ayquina, an Andean village along the Rio Caspana valley, which attracts hundreds of believers with its festival dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe. Here, people pray, eat and dance in the streets before the start of the processions which mix Andean outfits with costumes inspired by the conquistadores. Just to participate in the celebrations, the locals leave their Andean homes, and walk for days through the driest region on Earth. We´re in the heart of the Atacama Desert, Southern Chile, amongst barren lands, geysers at over 4,000 meters and salt lakes populated by pink flamingos: in some parts of this inferno it hasn´t rained since the Spanish invasion took place five centuries ago.

Africa - Flying safari

2008-02-14

Welcome to the austral hemisphere, an aeronautical paradise where the moon hangs upside down, the skies have no limits and airplanes are used instead of taxis. Flying over Africa is marvellous. One circles in-and-out of boundless spaces, clouds and lights, hedgehopping over golden savannahs, clayey lands and herds of stampeding buffalo. The Cessna becomes a Land Rover with wings, a magical bus, a sky-bike upon which to race without stopping amongst the wind and the geological eras. The plane shortens distances and permits inaccessible locations to be reached in every season. However, in particular, it reveals a new, spectacular dimension, mapped out by natural geometries which would otherwise be invisible. Rivers become snakes of infinite lights, the guiding paths seem unnatural and the geographical references become perfect.

Cuba - Fishermen and dancers

2008-02-12

There are those who hope that Fidel Castro will soon lose control of Cuba, and those instead who wish him a long life. Political questions aside, under the ideological veneer lies a beautiful and vibrant island which every day hobbles along as best it can. A pleasant, enchanting people to be discovered, starting off perhaps from one of the most ancient cities born in the New World: Havana. A population of fishermen who pass the mornings on the Malençon, of dancers who perform at the Tropicana every evening, of young and old people who crowd the Habana Vieja. A population of students, of farmers met along a country road, of children who play baseball in the street and well dressed girls who happily celebrate their entrance into society.

Czech Republic - Prague

2008-02-12

Forget Kafka, autumnal mists and ideas on post-communism. This is all old stuff. The most westernised amongst all the cities from the ex-Soviet bloc has now become one of the liveliest and modern European metropolises. Prague is hyper-cosmopolitan: avant-garde designers, ethnic-chic restaurants, models, tourists from all over. For a trendy long weekend with a 19th century air, explore the emerging districts full of clubs, such as the Zizkov area, or walk up to Petrin Hill to survey the roofs of the Old City. Go shopping in the old boutiques in the Jewish quarter which have recently been refurbished, drink a surrealist coffee inside the Czech Cubism Museum, discover the breweries in the Old City and stay in the newly opened Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which even boasts one of the country's best spas

Africa - Flying above the Sahara

2008-02-11

An aerial ride over the most beautiful regions of the Sahara. A flying meridian travelled from south to north along routes of sand and wind. Geographic splendours, from Mali to Egypt, across five thousand kilometres of dust, sand, rivers, acrobatic agriculture, archaeology, ghosts towns, volcanoes, geological patrimonies and spectacular nature. From Bamako to Timbuctoo along the Niger and its internal delta. Next, southern Algeria with the wonders of the Assekrem and the Tadrart: dunes, lava, striking wadis and mutable orography. The Libyan Acacus and the circular Messak cultivations precede the grandeur of the Erg Murzuq, one of the most incredible dune clusters on Earth. We can then find the Waw en Namus volcano and the nothingness of the Libyan-Egyptian border. Finally, the Mediterranean, the beaches of Marsa Matrouh and Alexandria´s

Malawi - The land of great water

2008-02-10

Since the 17th century, explorers had been talking about a huge lake in central Africa, but no one had ever seen it. One of the first Westerners to arrive here in 1859, was a Scottish missionary, whose great passion was exploring the Black Continent: David Livingstone. But the banks of the Malawi Lake the 3rd largest in Africa, nearly as big as Lombardy have been inhabited by man for at least a hundred thousand years. Men, who today still live in harmony with their Nyasa, great water in the Chiyao language, living on its shores and catching the colourful cichlids using ancient traditional techniques: many of these fish are eaten, and just as many are destined for European aquariums where they are particularly appreciated. In fact, there are hundreds of species, and like a sort of aquatic Galapagos, they can only be found here.

Chile - Patagonia express

2008-02-10

The Chilean Alaska, with its fjords and glaciers appears suddenly south of Puerto Montt. It´s the harsh region of Aisén, the Chilean Patagonia´, once populated by the Chonos Indians and for many years forgotten by the Europeans: a desolate and arid land noted John Byron, grandfather of the more famous poet, which didn´t have a very benevolent aspect. The antithesis of the Argentine Patagonia: the flat, barren and steppe-like lands are substituted here by tall peaks and inlets where the icebergs of Campo de Hielo Norte offer unforgettable sights, and where the isolated communities (less than 100 thousand people live in the area) were founded in the past by pioneers. Travel connections are difficult and the Camino Austral wanted by Pinochet a road which should have joined Puerto Montt with Punta Arenas remains more or less a dream.

Libya - The forgotten Roman Empire

2008-02-10

The sea whitens towards the north-east, whilst the seagulls fly low over the colonnades and statues stacked in the agora. Capitals, bas-reliefs and cipolin marbles are illuminated one last time before the twilight and the sudden tempest. It´s a storm about the history of Rome, electric, ozonic, which produces surreal effects amongst the Greek-Roman architectonic splendours which surface, now and as at the time of the empire, on Libya´s beautiful soil. Leptis Magna, Sabratha, Apollonia, Cyrene, Ptolemais can be found along the Libyan coast between the Tunisian and Egyptian borders, and even today, they are legendary testimonials of the Great Empire. Epic vibrations are still transmitted from the beaches of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. They constitute a patrimony which is worthy of Pompeii, Athens and Rome itself. Open-air museums immersed in incomparable natural settings, just a step away from our peninsula.
(Texts by Davide Scagliola available upon commission)

France - Gypsies, Roma and cowboys of the Camargue

2008-02-08

Before the rampages of the Barbary pirates on the coast that separates the Mediterranean from the Rhône delta, history and legends mixed up. Jesus had just been crucified when, in Palestine, a group of Christians and the mothers of two apostles, Mary Jacobe and Mary Salome, took a boat up to the shores of Provence. Each year since then, the 'Gardiens de Camargue' parade carrying the statue of the two Marys in procession. Later, the figure of Sarah the Black was placed alongside the legendary Marys, which has never been clarified by official historiography. The gypsies, call her 'Sarah-la-Kâli', the 'gypsy' or the 'black' and made her their patron saint. They began to arrive from all over Europe to the church of the Saintes Maries to take her in procession on the 24 th of May.
( Text by Bruno Zanzottera available upon request).

Canada - British Columbia, the Great Rainforest Coast

2008-02-08

This part of British Columbia is a microcosm of mixed waters and evergreens, giant lichens, glaciers and continual rain. A lost nature, primordial, made up of crystal-clear skies, majestic mountains (snow-capped even in August), emerald lagoons and extremely deep fjords, to visit by boat, seaplane or, where possible, on foot. The forest is enchanting, not hospitable, but beautiful: at these latitudes it´s unthinkable to find such a dense and varied tangle. To walk through it is practically a tropical experience. Take an alpine wood, fill it with moss, orchids, enormous leaves and every sort of botanical oddity which comes to mind and stick in on the sea a few steps away from snow-covered peaks, waterfalls and Indian reservations.
(Text by Davide Scagliola available upon request)

Mali - Cow is beautiful!

2008-02-07

You don´t deserve to die with the cow, you do not have any love for the cow, when it is cold, you lie by the fire; when there is milk, you drink six spoonfuls, we drink only one´ so goes a passage from the epic poem of Silâmaka, a sort of Peul Odyssey, in which one can find the behavioural model of the noble nomadic shepherd: knowledge of his livestock, symbiosis with them, environmental resistance and self-discipline. For each of them, the only imaginable good in life is the herd and to be able to walk proudly in front of the cows is one of the few important things which matters. During the annual transhumance, the Peul cross the fields of the internal Niger delta with hundreds of thousands of heads of cattle. These days are also marked by celebrations: festivals, weddings, trade agreements.
(Text by B.Zanzottera available)

World - Geocosmetics - Global beauty

2008-02-01

The naked body gets adorned by a drop of sweat, a pearl of dew, or, if you are Marilyn Monroe, by a puff of French perfume. At the ethnological level, the beauty of women and men is concerned with deformation: skin cuts, hairdos, tattoos, elongated heads, induced strabismus, giraffe necks, razored hair, wigs, masks, penis sheaths, lip plates, crippled feet. It´s global cosmetics, baby, in the whole world and into all bodies. Man is a bio-cultural being who models his body in order to clearly separate himself from a terrifying Nature. The human body is soaked with kinship nexuses, personality, social relationship...

(Text by Alberto Salza, anthropologist)

Mexico - Chipilo, polenta and venetian dialect

2008-01-31

Chipilo is a town with three thousand inhabitants, a few kilometres from Puebla, which resembles a corner of the Veneto transplanted in Mexico. In 1882, seventy families from Segusino, in the province of Treviso, departed from Genova by ship, the Atlantico, and disembarked in Mexico after a month. The government threw them into the worst territory, but in a few decades of work and sweat, they were able to transform the same land into the most fertile in the whole country. Here, today, at an altitude of over two thousand meters, they still play bowls, burn the Befana in January, eat polenta and minestrone with pancetta. They still use the same Venetian dialect spoken by those first immigrants, whom the natives called cuah´tatarame, the strong and sturdy giants´.

Venezuela - Aeronautical adventures

2008-01-29

Venezuela is a world of water, clouds, grassy plains, ancient rock and explosive scenery. It reveals a wonderful nature made up of deserts, meandering rivers, powerful deltas, rainforests, coral islands, geological feats and an extraordinary humanity. From north to south, one passes from the wild coasts of Caracas, which run for hundreds of kilometres in front of sandy peninsulas and prosperous archipelagos (Los Roques, Las Aves, Isla Tortuga and Isla Margarita), down to the central plains which lead to the Gran Sabana (the region of legendary mountains and tablelands, the tepuy) and finally to the Amazonian forest. From the Columbian border, the peaks of the Andean Cordillera, land of Indios and mountain civilizations, tower over the Caribbean Sea and the Orinoco Delta.

Australia - Flying over the West Coast

2008-01-29

A coast to coast amongst the clouds and Australian skies. That is, from Perth to Darwin on board a small, private airplane, to discover the wonders of the western coast of Australia from up high, thanks to an aeronautical adventure of five thousand kilometres. A flying safari which starts off in the extreme south of the continent and follows the whole coastline up to Darwin, just a stone´s throw from Indonesia. Under the wings of the twin-engined plane flow interminable beaches, intricate river deltas, amber cliffs, ancient meteoritic craters, deserted archipelagos and tiny Aboriginal communities surrounded by the nothingness of the outback.
(Text by Davide Scagliola available upon commission)

Panama - In the capital of the Chinese speaking canal

2008-01-29

Panama is an incredible mix of races, and one can understand why by visiting the Panama Interoceanic Canal Museum. To build it, more than 70 thousand men arrived from 97 different countries, and their descendents never left. Opened in 1914, the Panama Canal is one of the greatest works of civil engineering, a bridge spanning across two worlds, the umbilical cord of the Americas. However, sitting on the stands of the Miraflores locks, one is struck by a peculiarity: many of the passing vessels are Chinese. They are the real masters of the canal explains a guide, the Chinese own the two Ocean ports. They were purchased by the Hong Kong based Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, the colossus belonging to Li Ka-shing, one of the ten richest men on earth.
(Text by Alessandro Gandolfi available upon request)

Egypt - Rommel's beaches

2008-01-29

The Mediterranean you weren´t expecting. A new Egyptian Riviera still in development which will become, according to the plans of the tourism investors, the alternative to the Red Sea, which is now passé and overcrowded. From Alexandria, in Egypt, up to the Libyan border, runs a sandy and semi-deserted coast 400 kilometres long, lapped by transparent, tepid waters. On the trail of our historical past, one can still hear the echoes of the Second World War. Rommel with his Panzers, Cleopatra and Julius Caesar´s love affairs, the bloody battles, the memorial sites and the new travel economy mix in and around Marsa Matruh, amongst solitary beaches, old lighthouses and lagoons swarming with Cairene families.
(Text by Davide Scagliola available upon commission)

Panama - The many souls of America´s Switzerland

2008-01-29

Panama es mucho más que un canal..., cite the tourist brochures. The word, anama, in South American Indian, means abundance. Here we have everything that God needed to create Paradise wrote John Le Carré. In Central America, Panama has the highest middle-income per capita, whilst the skyscrapers of Punta Paitilla are evidence of its Yankee soul, devoted to profit and expenditure. Panama is the Switzerland of the Americas, but it doesn´t only have banks and a famous canal: it has volcanoes and equatorial forests, national parks and unique ethnic groups such as the Kuna, who live on the islands of the Sun Blas archipelago. And the Darién, on the southern border, called the plug: it´s such a wild and inhospitable place that the Pan-American Highway ends here, in a small town called Yaviza, dashing the dreams of a road which could unite Alaska with Patagonia.
(Text by Alessandro Gandolfi available upon request)

China - Red star, white houses

2008-01-25

In China, the era of the pagodas has ended: the latest architectural trend is inspired by a garish neoclassical style which exalts the new xenophilia of a nationalist people, but who want to live in a house decorated with Corinthian capitals and statues of Zeus. King of this trend is Li Qinfu (one of the 100 richest men in China) who has constructed a replica of the American Capitol on the outskirts of Shanghai for his textile manufacturing company. In Hangzhou, in the meantime, someone has decided to reconstruct a perfect, full-scale replica of the White House, exact in every detail, right down to the objects on the President´s desk, and to turn it into a theme park where tourists come to have themselves immortalised at the Oval Room desk.
(Text by Sergio Ramazzotti available upon request)

Kenya - Nairobi, art in arrival from the shanty towns

2008-01-25

Nairobi is a sprawling metropolis where some of the biggest and degraded shanty towns in the African continent can be found. However, amongst the shacks of these cities made of sheet metal, barbed wire and rubbish, some interesting artistic realities are developing. We can find painters, musicians, actors and other artists who are developing creative routes in difficult situations, were it´s much easier to turn into a criminal rather than an artist. Some are beginning to enjoy a certain fame in Kenya, whilst others are still unknown, but the important thing is the attempt to try to escape from the situation of utter squalor in which the inhabitants of these places live.
(Text by Claudio Agostoni disponible sobre pedido)

Madagascar - African Sea

2008-01-23

The botry sail between the tortuous Madagascan coasts and the sandy landing-places of Nosy Be. Groups of men and women unload bunches of bananas, chickens, and all kinds of merchandise. It´s market day in Hell Ville. Three hours, with a favourable wind, are needed to reach the nearest port of Grand Terre. Sailing amongst the islands which surround Nosy Be, one risks an indigestion of beaches, coral reefs, rocks, groves and watery corners in which to enjoy a tropical swim without comparison. One minute it seems like you´re in the Maldives, next, the Seychelles.

Croatia - Dubrovnik Dreaming

2008-01-16

A city-state, fortified island, Mediterranean vision. Its stones sparkle brightly under the Croatian sky. After centuries of marine history, it´s now time for Dubrovnik to rest, having become one of the most popular international tourist locations. Seen out of season, perhaps at night, far away from the bustle of the restaurants and bars, its walls turn into surreal stages to be trodden under the light of the moon, with the red roofs as theatrical wings. Perfect forms, architectural stories to be studied from the sea and the surrounding hills. A real star, seen for once, with a special eye.
(Text by Davide Scagliola available upon commission)

United States - Las Vegas views

2008-01-10

A non-place above all others, the triumph of kitsch and reconstructed locations, the city of entertainment par excellence has now become a scaled-down Disneyland for families. One gambles, goes on wild shopping sprees, eats cheaply and is amazed by the special effects created to the sound of poker dollars. Photographic plates at 180°, for a capital of vice which has become sweeter, but ever more bright.

Mali - A journey to Fatima's hand

2008-01-07

The pilgrimage to the Hand of Fatima begins in November and ends in March. To reach the Main de Fatma, the most imposing granite spires in Africa, one must climb. It is a lay pilgrimage, silent, made up of long hours in buses and days passed on the rock faces. The Hand of Fatima: five sandstone fingers, smooth and compact, five pillars in the middle of a savannah whom all call the African Dolomites, in an area north of Mopti which resembles Monument Valley and which up until a decade ago couldn´t be entered. Fault of the rebel Tuareg, and the conflict which sees them opposed to half of the West African states. The last truce goes back to the autumn of ´99: since then, in the north of Mali, there is no more shooting. And the Aiguilles de Garmi (or Grami Tondo in the local dialect), with its 600 metres of cliffs, and which really does resemble a hand, attracts rock-climbers from the world over

Canada - On America's iced top

2008-01-07

The voyage across the Rocky Mountains follows the legendary 93, the Icefields Parkway, 230 kilometres which run over the frozen roof of America. Along this road, in the last three centuries, tales of men and exploits have intertwined, the sufferings of the natives and Hudson´s Bay´s dreams of commerce, the conquests of the railway and the birth of a pioneering tourism with a European feel. Here, today, straddled between Alberta and British Columbia, can be found some of the finest protected areas in Canada. The Jasper National Park, the variegated Kootenay, and the Yoho with its marine fossils: the proof that millions of years ago here there was a sea. But the oldest of all is the Banff National Park, where wolves and bears can avoid the automobiles, thanks to expensive bridges camouflaged as paths.

United States - New England, Europe on the other side

2008-01-07

The United States was born in New England on a cold day in 1620, when a ship called the Mayflower docked at Cape Cod. On board were a couple of hundred wretches from England: they called themselves pilgrims, and were searching for a new Jerusalem and believed to have found it here. Four centuries later, New England a together of states in the north eastern corner of the country: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont is still the most European amongst all the American regions; the most enchanting during the autumn months, when the leaves turn to gold and the voyage becomes a homage to the hills of Vermont, the clippers on the Mystic, Boston with its merchants and intellectuals. But the real New England can be found on the New Hampshire car number plates: live free or die is their motto. Because this isn´t America they say it´s New England above all.

Mali - Following the Niger river

2008-01-07

It´s one of the most spectacular festivals of Western Africa: the Niger herd crossing, a transhumance towards south, where ancient laws decide the entrance of the bovines into the water, the search for new, green pastures and the longed-for return of the Fulani herders who, isolated for months on the edge of the Sahara, return to the Niger each year with their herds, crossing the mighty river in the search for fresh grass. The crossing will take weeks and will involve other villages, but it´s in Diafarabé, a tiny village along the Niger banks, where, in December, the first cow will jump into the water and start the procession, and where the festival which welcomes the return of the young Fulani men to their women will begin.

United States - The Berkshire art mill experiment

2008-01-07

'In North Adams, Massachusetts, in the heart of the Berkshires - say their web site - a former historic mill building known as the Eclipse Mill, with over 125,000 square feet of floor space, has been converted into forty artist live/work studio loft condominiums. These are large open space units with high ceilings where an artist can both live and work in the same space'. All these artists-residents (painters, writers, photographers, sculptors, illustrators, musicians, dancers, potters, weavers and filmmakers)escaped from big cities to refugee in Berkshire's hills, and all of them are now expected to contribute to a sense of community, and invited to participate wherever possible in artistic events held throughout each year.

Italy - Slovenia - Gorizia, the lost border

2008-01-07

Gorizia: a city halfway between Berlin and Athens, Madrid and Kiev. A city of borders and thresholds´, historically the meeting point of the three great European cultural and linguistic families: Latin, Germanic and Slavic. A meeting point which the city has retained, even if the 1947 peace treaty sliced it in two, creating a Slovenian sector (Nova Gorica) and an Italian one. A partition emphasized by a small wall, 50 centimetres high and dominated by a wrought-iron mesh fence, which fell last December with the entrance of Slovenia in the Schengen area. Up until the fall of the Berlin wall, on one side of the Gorizia wall there were the lights and the contradictions of the West, on the other, the shadows and the fears of real socialism. The symbolic location of this urban rift was the Transalpina, the Nova Gorica railway station, recognizable for its characteristic, early 20th century, secessionist style.
(Text by Claudio Agostoni available upon commission)

Cuba - Havana Pop

2008-01-07

A visionary city, defragmented in its urban character and structure. A non-place full of icons and secrets, lively and chaotic in its social and metropolitan weave. It´s an impossible feat to try to describe the Cuban capital. One has to start from a single family in order to discover the roots, the tribal structure, the mysterious adhesive which keeps the whole island united. In the moment of maximum transition, between Castro´s era and that which will happen straight after, Havana will be Cuba´s mirror, the navel of the world for the Cubans, who will probably face the most decisive year regarding their future. With the usual nonchalance: cigar in mouth and dreamy gaze.
(Text by Davide Scagliola available upon commission)

Perù - The Incas' Masters

2008-01-07

When the Spanish, led by Francisco Pizarro, conquered Peru in 1535, capturing the Inca emperor, Atahualpa, they didn´t even realize that they had destroyed a fully-developed civilization. The Incas however, were only the last to arrive in these territories. Their empire was formed around the 13th century and was preceded by many other kingdoms. Starting from the 17th century BC, the date that marks the birth of a historical epoch with the Chavin civilization, various populations, amongst which the Lambayeque, Moche, Chimù, reached an extremely high level of refinement from which the Incas, much coarser, but militarily evolved, took inspiration after having conquered them. Today, the archaeologists who work in the excavations in Northern Peru, are making ever more new discoveries regarding these ancestors who we could call the Incas´ masters.
(Text by Bruno Zanzottera available upon commission)

Nepal - The ancient kingdom of Lo

2008-01-07

It is obvious that we are on the boundary of one culture and that another is about to begin´. Thus wrote the expert on Tibetan culture, Giuseppe Tucci, as he left Nepal and entered Mustang. The Kingdom of Lo, as its inhabitants call it, is a portion of Himalayan territory at an altitude from 3,000 to 6,000 m amongst the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri mountain chains. A corner of Tibet where the monastic structure, as it was before the Chinese invasion, still survives. Its capital, Lo Manthang, can be reached only after several days walk, and, during the month of May, the Ti Ji is celebrated, the kingdom´s important religious ceremony, where the monks dance a long series of Cham (sacred dances) to represent the struggle between the god Palchen Dorje Chono and the demon, Tharpa Nagpo Rutha.
(Text by Bruno Zanzottera available upon commission)

Slovakia - Bratislava, eurozone, capital boom

2008-01-06

Bratislava didn´t even exist as a capital before the secession from the Czech Republic in 1993. Before low-cost flights, few considered the city as an holiday destination. But now, between foreign investments and ambitions for tourism. it dreams in style. From the Castle one can see the new urban structure. On the northern side, in the historic city centre, the old, aristocratic districts. On the other side, the buildings from the Soviet era seem to belong to lost communist world. But it´s only an impression: the river division is an illusion. Even on the poorer bank, new shopping centres, Multiplex cinemas and residential areas for the nouveau riche have sprung up, which are decentralising the wellbeing and interest from the overcrowded city centre.
(Text by Davide Scagliola available upon commission)

Canada - Québec, artic safari

2007-12-19

An extraordinary journey with Huskies along the frozen mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, amongst six metres of snow, woods, timber refuges, ice hotels and subpolar surroundings. A race through the forests north of Quebec City, around the village of Saint David de Falardeau, not far from Lake Saint-Jean and the Saguenay fjord, as well as the Atlantic coasts of Eastern Canada covered by white cedars, firs, birches and pines. The dense undergrowth, where the dead pine needles on the ground form the sapin, a fragrant and insulating carpet, becomes a spectral universe, kingdom of reindeers, moose, stoats, otters, foxes, wild rabbits, wolves, beavers, caribou. Dogsledding is a tough passion. Forget getting behind a sled and enjoying the ride.

Caribbeans - Grenadines, the wind archipelago

2007-12-19

Once they were epic sperm-whale hunters, unbeatable naval carpenters and, before still, pirates under the pay of Capt. Kidd, now the majority of the inhabitants of the smaller islands of the Windward arc live thanks to sailors from the world over, who from December to April flock to the stunning berths of St. Vincent, Bequia, Canouan, Union Island, Mustique, Mayreau, Grenada, St. Lucia, Martinique and the Tobago Cays, to explore the tranquil seas, enchanted lagoons and flourishing coral reefs. A paradise for all sailors, the archipelago has nearly 100 islands which make up the arc of the Lesser Antilles. Territory of whalers, ex English colony, theatre of legendary feats and battles, today these waters have been blessed by nautical tourism.
(Text by Davide Scagliola available upon commission).

Romania - Bucharest, eastern endless nights

2007-12-19

An all-round portrait of the Romanian capital. After the entrance into Europe, the urban economy has radically changed. The upper middle classes have exploded, the nouveau-riche are on the rampage and the dozens of new hi-tech clubs, restaurants, discos and casinos are all the rage. The capital is one of the last places on earth where the borders which divide Stalinist heritage and capitalist opulence coexist in total harmony, at least on the surface. Trends are born and cultures metabolized. The result is a fun and contradictory chaos, full of surprises, unexpected enchantments and surreal beauty.
(Text by Davide Scagliola available upon commission)

Mali - Muddying up the castle!

2007-12-12

The city of Djenné was for centuries one of the main cultural and commercial centres for the kingdoms which developed within the territory of Mali. Its huge mosque, made of banco (bricks of mud mixed with straw), is one of the most important buildings to be found in sacred Sudanese architecture. Razed to the ground in the 19th century by the puritanical fanaticism of Cheikh Amadou, head of a theocratic state opposed towards any kind of decorative element which could distract one from prayer, it was reconstructed in 1907. Each year, the building is covered with a new layer of mud to defend it from the rains which erode its walls. This is the occasion for a vast public ceremony which involves the whole city.
(Text by Bruno Zanzottera available upon commission)

United States - Montana, Sitting Bull's land

2007-12-11

He fought for the freedom of his people, and to defend them, fled to Canada, can be read on a granite marker in Plentywood, Montana. The inscription refers to Tatanka Iyontanke, better known as Sitting Bull, the great Sioux chief, who, after years of flight and exile, surrendered to the American army in the precise spot where the granite marker is found. It was the 16th of July, 1881. His odyssey was played out in a tight corner between Montana, North Dakota and Canadian Saskatchewan. The Americans still call it Sitting Bull´s land, a land of prairies and hills shaped by the withdrawing glaciers, broken up by the waters of the Missouri and whipped by a warm wind the Chinook which the Indians used to wait for in winter as a gift from the Great Spirit. A piece of Frontier which the pioneers at the end of the nineteenth century used to call the big sky.

United States - Lexington, like a battle in a film

2007-12-11

The sun still has to rise over Battle Green, yet hundreds of onlookers are lined up along the road. The photographers inside a barrier on the edge of a field, the re-enactors who are ready to enter on the scene, the police to make sure that everything runs smoothly. It´s not a Hollywood production, but it could be, considered the effort, the attention to detail, the passion of the actors who will shortly come into play. In the bucolic village of Lexington, in Massachusetts, a few kilometres from Boston, it´s the 19th of April, and like each year, the armed conflict of 1775 is commemorated re-enacted in the tiniest details. It´s not an ordinary battle, but the first battle of the American Revolution, fought by the rebel colonists against His Majesty´s British soldiers.

United States - The indian revenge comes from art

2007-12-06

Tammy is a Tafoya, she works in a huge shed behind her house and carves bronze pieces of the most mysterious beauty. Marcus is a Choctaw, and sitting on the sofa of his living room, he dedicates part of the day to the creation of armlets and bodices using the tiniest pearls. Diego, on the other hand, paints pottery, mixing old designs with postmodern life scenes. What do Tammy, Marcus and Diego have in common? To start, they all live near Santa Fe, in New Mexico. And their works of art, displayed in the most important American art galleries, are sold for tens of thousands of dollars. They are friends, some even went to the same schools, and by expertly merging Indian style with contemporary art, they have managed to create a truly artistic phenomenon. Which, on the one hand, turns to tradition and on the other, is decidedly business orientated.

Cuba - Que viva Harley!

2007-11-24

According to an unofficial census, there are about a hundred Harley-Davidson´s surviving in Cuba. From the day of the revolutionary triumph in 1959, they are prisoners on the island, left to their own devices and forced into a subsistence regime by the commercial embargo which doesn´t allow the importation of spare parts from the United States. They are looked after by a handful of enthusiasts - or maniacs, pioneers and nutcases as someone has called them who share the same destiny and who would willingly, and sometimes have, gone hungry, in order to keep their motorbike on the road. Amongst these is a very special figure: the eldest son of Ernesto Che Guevara.
(Text by Sergio Ramazzotti available upon request)

Jordan - A history of stones

2007-11-24

The millenniums of Jordanian history speak to us through the stones: the biblical, water-eroded valleys which saw the passage of Moses during his wanderings towards the Promised Land, the necropolises of the Nabateans, the Roman propylaea, the castles of the Crusaders. Wherever you are, in the Middle Eastern country of the Hashemite dynasty, you will bump into a rock which has a story to tell.

China - Shenzhen, Deng Xiaoping's masterpiece

2007-11-24

In 1980, Shenzhen was a village with 20 thousand fishermen. It was then that Deng Xiaoping decided to transform it into an enclave based on the principles of the open market. Today, Shenzhen is a metropolis with 12 million inhabitants and an annual economic growth of 20%. However, in spite of the immense development, the city represents an exemplary urban model, not just in China, but in the rest of the world, to the point that the International Union of Architects awarded its city plan in 1999. For the future, the municipal party committee wants to further transform Shenzhen into a modern high-tech logistic centre and a high profile cultural-ecological city. This is what´s happening.

China - Yunnan, the Disneyland of the ethnic groups

2007-11-24

It´s the Chinese province where the majority of the country´s ethnic and tribal minorities are concentrated, 26. The territory extends from the snowy northern mountains to the border with Tibet (today renamed Shangri-La), to the central valleys where the Yangtze river curves into its first meander and where, in the medieval stone villages, the matriarchy of the Naxi women still survives, to the palm forests of the south, on the border with Laos and Burma. Peking has decided to exploit this ethnic and naturalistic patrimony in order to turn it into a sort of amusement park for the use and consumption of domestic tourism, with surprising and sometimes questionable results.
(Text by Sergio Ramazzotti available upon request)

India - Mumbai, Indian Vespa

2007-11-24

The Vespa has been, and continues to be in some way, the motor of economic development in India. In the Seventies, Piaggio, the patentee, handed over the production lines of the illustrious scooter, protagonist of la dolce vita, to a Bombay company, and the Vespa found a new lease of life in the Indian subcontinent, where it became the most popular scooter. Here it is today, more fashionable than ever, in the streets of the country´s economic capital, renamed Mumbai in the meanwhile.

India - Pondicherry, nostalgia for France

2007-11-15

In Tamil Nadu, the former French colonial enclave of Pondicherry, for nearly thirty years an autonomous state of the Union territories, founds its existence and a consistent part of its economy, on faith. In the city, Catholicism, Hinduism and the cult of the guru Aurobindo are practiced, whose followers dream of a Utopian city which will probably never be completed. Outside the temples, the population, like the rest of India, curses the local Government. Surprisingly, however, it looks back with nostalgia on the good old days when the French used to govern us.

Italy - Sardinia, Shepherds´ wrestling

2007-11-15

In Barbagia, in the wild heart of Sardinia, survives an ancient millenary tradition. Its name is S´istrumpa, a sport which lies halfway between Sumo wrestling and a tribal rite of passage. In this harsh land which lives off sheep farming, where demonstrating one´s physical strength and courage is still the only way to obtain society´s approval, traditional wrestling is the most widespread pastime amongst the inhabitants. Every man worthy of this name is, or has been, a gherradore, the term with which the wrestler is designated. It is precisely from here that the most famous gherradore comes from, former Mister Universe, close friend of Arnold Schwarzenegger, today resident in California: Franco Columbu.

North Cyprus - Neverland

2007-11-14

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (recognised only by Turkey with this name), declared such in 1983, has been under international embargo since 1974, year in which the Ankara troops occupied it. Today, Nicosia (Lefkosha for the Turks) is the last city in the world divided in half by a wall which cuts the houses in two. Since the Greek-Cypriot sector of the island became part of the European Union, the wall has also become the ideal border between Europe and Turkey, in a certain sense. Meanwhile, the northern part of the island, surrounded by a splendid sea and oppressed by diffuse poverty, tries to survive and save the monuments, legacy of three thousands years of history.

China - Xinjiang, Chinese Far West

2007-11-14

This province in the remote north-west of China faces Mongolia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. 5,000 kilometres from Peking, it´s a medieval world which lives far from the winds of change: the only winds here are those which blow across the Taklimakan desert, or the gusts which come down from 7,000 metres from the Tian Shan massif. A voyage in China´s furthermost frontier, rich in oil which the pipelines carry towards east, depriving it of profits and condemning it to a calculated poverty for which Peking is responsible, so that the nationalist forces can´t take root. Here, the Uigura, a Turkish ethnic group, writes in Arab, prays to Allah and is a powerless witness to the cultural colonisation which will change it forever.
(Text by Sergio Ramazzotti available upon request)

Jordan - Amman, Los Angeles of the Middle East

2007-11-14

One and a half million Palestinians. A million Iraqis. The Jordanians in the minority. A city which stands on 19 hills. A complex traffic system which calls to mind Los Angeles, just as much as the ethnic and denominational mosaic into which its population is broken up. A unique sociological experiment in the Middle East: a community of refugees who have fled from the wars in neighbouring countries, not bringing a baggage of poverty and desperation with them, but, on the contrary, contributing to the cultural wealth, economic prosperity and lightning development of that, which half a century ago, was little more than a provincial town.

Equatorial Guinea - Beautiful and damned

2007-11-14

A miniature country in lesser known Equatorial Africa, once a Spanish colony, governed by a totalitarian dictator which the European Union supports underhand, whilst some non-governmental Spanish organisations fight to save the unique forests from the assault of the timber and cacao industries. Chronicle of the ordinary madness of a regime in the shadow of the palms, amongst monkey hunters and the stories which inspired Frederick Forsythe´s best-seller The dogs of war´, and which gave Mark Thatcher, son of the former British Prime Minister, the idea to attempt a coup at the head of a group of mercenaries, in order to overthrow the dictator in power.

India - Sikh: the Punjab lions

2007-11-12

The Sikh are the protagonists of hundreds of jokes which depict them as clumsy and slow-witted. They always carry a weapon in their belt and they have a long history of battles and bloodshed, because fighting is their reason for living. Sikhism is a religion and even if its followers don´t assemble in barracks or battalions, their past is steeped in blood. The turban, the long beard and the name which unites them (Singh, that is, lion) which they gave themselves five centuries ago, were, even before being professions of faith, a declaration of war against the Mughal invaders, descendents of Tamerlane, who entered northern India from the Afghan steppes to bring terror, destruction and Allah´s word. And, in some way, in modern India they continue to be so.

Russia - Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave in the heart of Europe

2007-11-11

Kaliningrad is a Russian enclave embedded between Poland, Lithuania and the Baltic Sea; with its widening in 2004, it now borders with EU member states and is located in the geographical centre of Europe. With the name of Königsberg, it was the capital of the Prussian State and the Order of Teutonic Knights. The city was bombed during the Second World War, razed to the ground and conquered by the Red Army. The few surviving German inhabitants were expelled en masse and substituted by Russian populations. The former cathedral, previously in ruins, was only restored after the fall of the Berlin wall and is one of the very few historical buildings in the city. In Kaliningrad, amongst other things, can be found the largest amber deposit in the Baltic.

South Africa - A man, a woman and the rhinos

2007-11-11

Clive Walker lives in the remote South African region of Waterberg, today a UNESCO world heritage site. In his garden can be found a black rhino bull and a white rhino cow. Together with his wife, Conita, he is attempting to reintroduce, with a certain success, black and white rhinos into the parks of southern Africa. These animals, which were on the road to extinction due to merciless hunting they suffered for their horn, used in Chinese pharmacopoeia and erroneously considered to be an aphrodisiac, are now returning to populate the African savannahs also thanks to the efforts of the Walker family. Clive, however, is also a painter and rhinos are naturally amongst his favourite subjects.

(Text by Silvana Olivo available on commission)

Martinica - The Yole tour

2007-11-11

On the island of Martinique, the most famous in the French Antilles, a unique competition takes place. The Tour of the island with the Yoles Rondes. These are sailing boats with a maximum length of 10.5 m, endemic to Martinique, derived from gommiers, the traditional Antillean boats made from dug-out tree trunks. Over the years, the competition, which is carried out in 7 legs around the island, has become so important so as to transform the yoles into powerful sea machines and to supplant the carnival as main event of the year. The regattas are followed by practically all the inhabitants, who go wild with frenzied dances at the end of each leg.
(Text by Claudio Agostoni available on commission)

West Africa - How much? 10 shells

2007-11-11

Cypraeidae or cowries are shells which are endemic to the Indian Ocean. They arrived in Africa under the form of ballast in the European sailing ships which began to sail the oceans around the 15th century. They immediately met with a huge success and many African kingdoms adopted them as currency. They were used for centuries in this way and only the colonization of the continent around the end of the nineteenth century reduced, but didn´t eliminate, their use. Today the cowries are still used in certain rural areas of West Africa for small purchases and for ceremonies, where they are given to the families of the deceased, to newlyweds and musicians. Furthermore, the cowries are a decorative element for sacred masks and headdresses for initiation rites. They are one of the items used by fortune-teller during their divinatory sessions.

Italy - Comacchio, the eel marsh

2007-11-04

Today, the Comacchio Valleys are a paradise of water, made up of canals which are the destination of keen birdwatchers. But at the beginning of the twentieth century, this territory of lagoons and marshes was a hostile place where malaria reigned sovereign and men survived only due to their fishing and eel conservation and processing abilities. The eels became the symbol of Comacchio, and in the Delta Park, fishing is still carried out with the traditional lavoriero´ method, a sort of large arrow point on the surface of the water which blocks the exit mouths of the valleys. A couple of years ago, the ancient Manifattura dei Marinati was reopened, where the eels are cooked in the huge fireplaces, just like they were over a century ago.
(Text by Massimo Calvi available on commission)

India - Puri, the temple city

2007-11-01

In Puri, one of the four holy Hindu cities, in the state of Orissa, life revolves around a huge temple dedicated to Jagannath, one of the incarnations of Vishnu, whose curiously primitive appearance is an enigma which has never been completely resolved. The temple, visited each year by millions of pilgrims, and whose access is barred to non-Hindus, is the city´s main economic cornerstone: it creates work for about twenty thousand people, who, in the internal hierarchy, are divided into 97 castes. In the area of Puri are some of the most impressive monuments of Hindu art to be found in the whole subcontinent, as well as the sacred crematoriums which work nonstop, and where every Hindu aspires to be cremated.

India - Kashmir, the conquest of paradise

2007-11-01

For more than half a century, the problem of Kashmir, debated by India, Pakistan and local independence groups, seems without solution. Even today, after the peace talks between the two Asiatic countries seem to be on the right track, the region, of Muslim majority, which in the past was the cradle of Sufism, an Islamic mystic movement, still remains under military garrison like no other place on earth. Notwithstanding this, it´s a paradise which retains its decadent charm, as all forgotten places do, where Islam, at times, still feels like magic.
(Text by Sergio Ramazzotti available upon request)

Afghanistan - Kabul City Tour

2007-10-31

In Afghanistan, the first tourists are returning before the peace, on the initiative of Great Game Travel, a travel agency founded by two courageous Americans. They have about a hundred clients a year, they are curious, willing to travel without comforts, someone demands to visit the caves of Tora Bora, scene of one of the most bloody battles between the American army and the Taliban forces. We followed a group of twelve Americans from nine in the morning to four in the afternoon, during the excursion with which they start (or end) all the journeys in Afghanistan: the tour of Kabul.

United States - Flying over the Wild West

2007-10-23

In flight over the most scenographic areas of America. Gliding and circling over the all-American national parks in the south-west, to discover the real skin of the United States. Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Arizona seen from the clouds: canyons, geysers, artificial lakes, surreal cities, enchanted bays, windmills, famous bridges, deadlands, national parks, natural graphisms and ecstatic visions of the most spectacular territories in the whole of America. Few Indians in this Far West. No cowboys. But lots of sacred ground in Manitou land.

Jamaica - One love, no love

2007-10-23

Jamaica is often presented as a Caribbean paradise, but beyond the walls of the luxury resorts it presents a profoundly contradictory face. The rural society, incredibly fragmented from a denominational point of view, lives in semi-poverty on a fertile land. Kingston, the capital, is a chaotic, degraded city, afflicted by rampant criminality. The lush coastal region of Hellshire, declared a national park, has been left abandoned. And a peoples, who, impassioned by the proclamations of the Rasta religion, seem to nurse a constant grudge against the West, the same West whose way of life they attempt to reproduce in the large towns.

Tunisia - Green Maghreb

2007-10-23

The green side of Tunisia. Far from the clichés, the southern desert, the mountain oases and the touristic folklore, lies a country which is trying to relaunch the protection of its natural patrimony through a more precise management of the national parks and the nature reserves which are found in the northern part of the country. An important step towards a greener Tunisia, a complement to the investments in mass tourism which subsidize the greater part of the Maghrebian economy, but which often ignore the environment. A voyage amongst oryx, marshes, avifauna, perfumed woods and surprising panoramas. A piece of green Africa embedded between the dunes and the Mediterranean.

Namibia - Savannah, clouds and dreams

2007-10-23

The hatches of the small aircrafts allow a fantastic bird-eye view of the Namib Desert, the dunes of Soussusvlei, the Kunene River, the Kaokoland and the Skeleton Coast, just to quote the most famous places in Namibia Watching the wildlife from up above is surely a strong emotional hit, just as good as taking the usual 4x4 car tours and follow the animal tracks on the grounds. Overflying colourful Himba villages or the majestic Namib Rand, amongts prairies, dry mountains and savanas, is a rare opportunity that will surprise everyone. Take a look at the extraordinary orography of Namibia from a distance, and then land in a peaceful bush camps to sleep in 5 stars lodges and discover the people, the animals and the great beauty of Africa Australis.
(Text by Davide Scagliola available upon request)

India - Ladakh, when oracles and shamans meet Buddha

2007-10-22

A little after the start of the Tibetan new year, 2 inhabitants from the village of Stock and 2 monks from the Matho monastery repeatedly fall into a trance and make prophecies on religious questions as well as bestowing blessings to remove obstacles and bad luck. The chosen oracles, called lu-yar (body lenders), prepare for the event with a long hermitage where they meditate and make offerings to the Dharma guardians before the Rongsten Karmar divinity takes possession of their body. When this occurs, the oracles exhibit themselves with a series of Cham (sacred dances) inside the two monasteries. All these ceremonies originate from the shamanic tradition found in Ladakh before the arrival of Buddhism into which it was then introduced.

Mongolia - The Olympics of the steppes

2007-10-16

The Naadam, three manly sports, is the festival of all united Mongolia: a nomad Olympics which unites thousands of athletes from the four remote corners of the country. A sublime representation of hunting, war and its art (wrestling, horse racing, archery), probably invented by Genghis Khan to welcome the summer and mould invincible warriors. The giants of wrestling invoke Khan when, having beaten the opponent after a match which seems to have no rules, they jump around, miming with arms open wide the devekh, the dance of the eagle. The cry which accompanies the best archery shot is also dedicated to him, as well as the fixed gaze of the small horse-rider as he runs towards the finish.

Egypt - Hollywood of the Middle East

2007-10-15

Cairo is still the Hollywood of the Middle East: 90 percent of the films destined for the Arab market are produced here.... Nabil Osman allows himself a cigarette whilst he looks over the two million square metres he can see from his office. This is the size of the Empc, the Egyptian Media Production City, a type of Cinecittà constructed ten kilometres from the pyramids. These studios are the largest after Los Angeles and Bombay points out Mubarak´s ex spokesman. Cairo has been the capital of Middle Eastern cinema for some time now. Its films are distributed from Morocco to Turkey to the Gulf States, reaching a public of 300 million people. It´s also for this reason that the Egyptian dialect is understood in all the Arab world.

Cameroon - Mandara, the mountains of the Moon

2007-10-14

Close to the Nigerian border, the extreme northern region of the country, where the plains dotted by volcanic peaks offer a scene beyond this world, where the Kapsiki ethnic group, strictly animist in a predominantly Islamic area (the Muslims use the term kirdi, that is, infidels, with reference to the Kapsiki) keep alive some of the most extraordinary and delicate traditions of darkest Africa.
(Text by Sergio Ramazzotti available upon request)

Malaysia - Prayer and torment

2007-10-12

Thaipusam is the most important Hindu festival. A sort of Thanksgiving: the occasion to repent one´s mistakes, to atone for one´s sins, to show gratitude to the gods, or to ask them for a new favour. However, the nations in the world which accept its cruelty are few. Proclaimed barbarous and uncivil in India, where it was born more than 1,400 years ago, the Thaipusam festival practically survives only in Singapore and Malaysia, preserved by the Tamils who were taken here from the south of India by the English. In Kuala Lumpur, a million people meet in huge caves for three days of prayer and to fulfil vows, which foresees complicated forms of torment and group self-torture.

South Africa - Cape Town voices

2007-10-11

It´s one of the most beautiful cities in the world, as well as being the location where geographical Africa ends. Cape Town is changing, growing. Waiting for the next World Cup. In the meanwhile it´s becoming trendy. We gave voice to musicians, writers, artists, trend-setters and chefs to try to understand exactly what´s happening in the small and sparkling South African metropolis. Five interviews, a sidelong glance, no comment. Only a personal, grandiloquent view. Voices from a fun and relaxing city, surrounded by stunning nature and its aura of un-dispersible frontier. A non-place which has nearly totally subdued the post-apartheid social tensions and which looks to the future in the pursuit of a harmonious development.