In May 2009, before the demolition, the municipality gave free access to the facility in order to made easy the pedestrian passage between two parts of the harbor.
It was a sunny holiday morning when I decided to photograph the interior of the “Cantiere Escavazione Porti”. As I wandered around the rooms, I was striken by the contrast between the outside, with the sun light and the voices of the passers-by, and the inside, silent and with the signs of decay all around.

With the photographs presented in this folio, I try to convey the sense of “wonder” I felt when I explored those buildings. They were at the end of their life, but their whole life was still there for me to see.

If you wish, you can see the entire folios as a flickr set or download a selection in PDF (3.82 MB).

For the mid afternoon all is finished. Fishermen are gone home and the harbor is quiet. Especially in the rainy and hazy spring afternoon like when I went there.

I wandered near the boats all by myself, captured by the stillness of the scene. The silence was almost complete.

The equipment and the tools used for fishing were neatly packed, stacked and ordered. Drops of rain shined from the fishing nets where tiny remains of fishes and crabs were entangled. The boats were lifeless, waiting for another work day in the calm water of the harbor.

I was fascinated by those objects: their shapes, their texture. I walked and photographed slowly, trying to capture the feeling of the scene: peaceful, like in kind of suspended time.

Later on, selecting the images for this folios, I thought that what best represented that afternoon were the details: the nets, the tools, the remains. Like ancient symbols to remind us of the daily work (and struggle) of the fishermen.

If you wish, you can see the entire folios as a flickr set or download it in PDF (5.20 MB).