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Early 1980s. From Milan to Marsala, Charles H. Traub composes an ironic and spontaneous portrait of an Italy that today we cannot say whether it really existed. The candid gaze of the American photographer immediately captures the idiosyncrasies of the Bel Paese: laziness, the unbearable and wonderful weight of history, the warm light of the countryside and the vivid light of the sea, the carefree and delightful life of the provinces. Bright blues, reds and yellows engulf the poses and gestures of strangers, transformed into affectionate archetypal caricatures, because Traub has in mind the work of another great master: Federico Fellini.

On his travels in Italy, it is Luigi Ghirri who is his guide: the two do not speak the same language, but share a form of sincere curiosity for what surrounds them and the ability to observe reality with ever new eyes. So it was that in 2012 Traub recognised a lost magic in the photographs from thirty years earlier and decided to make a series out of them. Published for the first time in 2013, Dolce Via Nova renews the original sequence with a wide selection of previously unpublished photographs, edited by Giulia Zorzi and Francesco Ceccarelli, and transforms the book with a new design by Bunker. An essay by poet Luigi Ballerini and a dialogue with Gus Powell complete the work.

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Texts by Luigi Ballerini, Gus Powell
Book design Bunker