La Terra Stretta

In the far south of Italy, the Aspromonte mountains rise almost 2,000 metres above the Mediterranean before descending towards the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Strait of Messina within just a few dozen kilometres. It is an extraordinarily compressed geography, where mountain and sea have never existed as separate worlds. La Terra Stretta is a photographic journey through this narrow territory, exploring how the proximity of the mountains and the Mediterranean has shaped human life over generations. From the forests of the Aspromonte to the villages of the interior, from centuries-old olive groves to the terraced vineyards of the Costa Viola and the fishing communities of the Strait, ways of working and inhabiting the land have developed in continuous relation to this geography. In the mountains, forestry workers continue to rely on knowledge of the landscape transmitted through generations. Further down the slopes, ancient olive trees and vineyards cultivated by hand on terraces overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea bear witness to centuries of adaptation to steep and difficult terrain. Along the Strait of Messina, this relationship reaches the water itself, where fishermen still hunt swordfish aboard feluccas, using a highly specialised technique developed around the migration of the fish through this narrow stretch of Mediterranean. The sea is therefore not the end of the journey but a constant presence throughout it. It can be seen from villages perched on the slopes of the Aspromonte, determines the climate and agriculture of the Costa Viola, provides work and food, and has historically connected communities that might otherwise appear geographically isolated. Today, however, this relationship is entering a period of transition. Inland villages are losing population, traditional occupations are becoming increasingly fragile, tourism is reshaping parts of the coastline, and major infrastructure projects could profoundly transform the physical and social landscape of the Strait. La Terra Stretta documents this moment through the people who continue to inhabit the forests, cultivate the slopes, live in the villages and navigate the Strait. It is a portrait of a Mediterranean territory in which mountain and sea, isolation and connection, continuity and transformation exist unusually close to one another.