Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia announces the opening of the photographic exhibition Sognando i corsari. Livorno e il suo mare negli Archivi Alinari (Dreaming of pirates. Livorno and its sea in the Alinari Archives), at the Museo della Città di Livorno - Polo Culturale dei Bottini dell'Olio, from June 30 to October 8, 2023.
Opening reception 30 June 2023 at 6.30 p.m.

The exhibition is organized and promoted by the Municipality of Livorno, and is curated by the Fondazione Alinari per la Fotografia, with the patronage of the Region of Tuscany.

Curator: Rita Scartoni, Fondazione Alinari.

Catalogue: Sillabe.

The exhibition will be previewed to the press on Thursday, 29 June at 12 noon.

The bond between Livorno and its sea is recounted through a century (spanning the 19th and 20th centuries) of photographers and photographs belonging to the Alinari Archives. Starting with the daguerreotype of the Dogana D'Acqua attributed to Aristide Castelli from around 1845: Livorno embraced the invention of photography early on; in fact, in 1843, just four years after the discovery of the daguerreotype, Giuseppe Marzocchini opened the first tuscan photographic studio in Livorno.
The exciting exhibition will feature photos of bathing establishments and bathers, storm surges, ships, divers and other sea-related professions, shot by photographers (or entire dynasties of photographers) based in Livorno.

The work of photographers such as Bettini and Miniati is sure to impress photography enthusiasts and surprise visitors who see their images for the first time.
The hand-coloured slides taken by the Florentine scientist Giorgio Roster during his time on the island of Elba in the second half of the 19th century are surprising. So too are other amateur photographs of summer holidays dating back to the 1920s and 1930s, which were also taken on Elba.
What does the exhibition title refer to? It's a reference to the enchanting 1958 photo by Michele Vestrini depicting a child sitting on a parapet on the Mascagni Terrace, with the famous ship Vespucci with its sails unfurled in the vastness of the open sea in front of him.. or perhaps to pirates?

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