Italia o Italia by Federico Clavarino

Federico Clavarino’s Italia O Italia returns ten years after its original release, carrying with it a fresh layer of complexity. The second edition, featuring a redesigned layout and a selection of previously unseen images, subtly alters the book’s rhythm while preserving its essence—a poetic meditation on Italy’s evolving identity. These new additions do not merely expand on the original work but reinterpret it, emphasizing the interplay between what lingers and what fades, between the monumental and the ephemeral. The result is a body of work that feels as timeless as it is timely.

Clavarino’s photographs reveal an Italy caught in quiet flux, oscillating between resilience and decay. His lens uncovers beauty in the overlooked: crumbling frescoes, discarded objects, and the stark geometry of architectural forms. The new images integrate seamlessly, enriching the narrative of a landscape shaped by contrasts—grandeur against fragility, stillness against movement. Each photograph becomes a fragment of memory, a piece of an emotional cartography that maps the tension between Italy’s monumental past and its unsettled present. This duality offers a reflection not only on the country’s physical spaces but also on its cultural psyche, where pride and burden are inextricably linked.

What remains most striking is the way human presence is suggested rather than directly depicted. Figures rarely appear in focus; instead, their traces are woven into the surfaces of buildings, the patterns of light and shadow, or the quiet disarray of urban spaces. This absence invites viewers to engage more deeply with the spaces themselves, transforming Italy from a backdrop into a protagonist. The new photographs amplify this effect, capturing places that feel simultaneously familiar and fragmented, as though frozen in a moment of transition. Each image operates as both a question and an answer, inviting reflection on identity, time, and place.

The redesign by Void enhances the contemplative nature of the work, allowing each photograph the space to resonate fully. Turning the pages feels like navigating a labyrinth, where each image offers a new path to explore. The act of viewing becomes an active process, drawing the audience into the layered meanings of the spaces depicted. For both new viewers and those familiar with the original edition, this second iteration deepens the experience of Italia O Italia, mirroring the very essence of the country it portrays—a place of enduring contrasts, where transformation and memory coexist in uneasy harmony.