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Public Spaces — Naples

In 2018, I traveled alone to Naples with no phone, no digital map, and no plan beyond walking. At the time, I had already been living in Genoa for a year, working as an architect. But I was also in the middle of a quiet personal experiment—living completely without a phone for three years. It was a way to reclaim presence, to slow down, and to observe the world around me more fully.

I brought only my newly acquired Hasselblad 500 C/M, a map, and time. My initial instinct was to photograph the architecture—its curves, textures, and light—but after a few days, I felt an unexpected sense of distance. Everything I was photographing could have been captured on any other sunny day. I missed connection.

So I walked to the waterfront, camera in hand, and began asking strangers if I could photograph them. It was the first time I intentionally sought out people, not buildings. I approached in broken Italian, often with nothing more than “Posso fare una foto? È bello così.” And they said yes.

These portraits, taken in public spaces, marked a quiet turning point. It was here that I began to understand photography as something more than observation—a form of interaction, of mutual presence. Even without deep language, the slowness of the medium-format process made space for a shared moment. For the first time, portraiture became central to my practice.

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