Luigi Ghirri

From 13 September to 12 October, Galerie Polka is delighted to present a selection of 50 prints taken from a set of vintage 20x30cm and 30x40cm prints - most of them previously unpublished - made by Luigi Ghirri in conjunction with the publication of the book ‘I Castelli Romani’ in 1982.

In 1982, with the support of the Lazio region, the Rondanini art publishing house in Rome published the book ‘I Castelli Romani, Ricerca Fotografica’ - a photographic study of this volcanic region located 20km south of Rome between the city and the Tyrrhenian Sea. Here, on these hills of the Alban Hills, majestically overlooking the ancient heart of the Empire, several families of the Roman aristocracy settled in the Middle Ages, fleeing the anarchy that reigned in the city at the time. Thirteen villages were transformed into strongholds and summer palaces, before becoming communes of the region: Albano, Ariccia, Castel Gandolfo, Colonna, Frascati, Genzano, Grottaferrata Marino, Monte Compatri, Monte Porzio Catone, Nemi, Rocca di Papa, Rocca Priora.

At the dawn of the 1980s, six photographers were mobilised to capture in images the special DNA of this place once sheltered from the world, with an emphasis on landscape studies and social anthropology: Joan Fontcuberta, Franco Fontana, Neal Slavin, Vincenzo Castella, Edouard Boubat and Luigi Ghirri.