Pezzo, once a fishermen’s quarter in Villa San Giovanni, is on the Calabrian shore of the Strait of Messina. Sometimes, the phenomenon of the Fata Morgana makes the two coasts seem very close together, so much so that you can glimpse cars and people moving on the other side. As a swimmer, I have had the privilege of crossing this rough stretch of water, experiencing its powerful and changing currents firsthand.

A small world made up of land and sea, where nature and life seem frozen in time, or better, go through such almost imperceptible changes that they can only be noted through careful, repeated observation. The scirocco wind that ripples the sea and the ferries that cross the Strait are daily sights that rhythmically repeat, always different, unstable epiphanies.

When I lived there, I looked at the world through this lens, where mobility and immobility co-exist and the horizon overlaps land and sea. A way of observing that was also influenced by the vision of my father, Santi, and his ability to perceive a changeable world through changing details. A gaze that then accompanied me in my journey away from the Strait, following me in my work all the way to Pistoia.

And so, after spending some time in Pezzo, I re-established my habit of observing and participating in what happens outside my window every day, to witness the daily changes in the landscape.