September 1943 marked the birth of the partisan movement in Abruzzo. The cliché, to me, is represented by these horrible concrete monuments in memory of the fallen during WWII. You can encounter them often within the area of the National Park, spoiling the beautiful landscape. I remember a popular protest to bring down one of these heavy blocks of concrete, built in a protected area.

Laurenzana, near Potenza. Family is central to every household of Italy. Giuseppe and Rosaria are expecting their first child. Giuseppe is a small businessman, he owns a woodwork company. He has been working since he was 12 years old and he built the family house with his own hands. For Giuseppe and Rosaria family means happiness.

I chose this picture because it represents a cliché on Calabria: this is its traditional dance, the Tarantella (a ritual performed in particular in the province of Reggio Calabria). It can also be read as common in the sense that people unknown to each other during the dance have a great time for meeting and having fun.

The archeological site in Pompeii is the largest and most important in all of Italy. It represents Campania being a part of the wider culture of the Mediterranean basin and it stands out as a the finest example of Roman classicism. The history of the city is known throughout the world and its ruins are considered a UNESCO World Heritage since 1997. To me, Pompeii being a commonplace is linked to the fact that it belongs to all of us: a place for everyone whose history is for all.

Especially when it comes to places it is often said that everything is disappearing. This must not be seen in a negative way, but as a pre-requisite for inventing new places through the power of imagination. A site, any site, is not only physical.

The "Bora" is the strong and cold North-East wind, which hits the cities of the region, especially Trieste, for 80 days a year. On December 25, 1996, the bora gusts reached 180 km/h.

Rome. The photo was taken during the First national congress where the Popolo della Libertà (Freedom Party) founded by Silvio Berlusconi was born. It is usually recognized as the political party that represents the biggest percentage of Italian citizens.

Varazze (Savona), November 2010. A view of the road
leading to Casanova, hit by landslides
and by the overflowing of rivers. The terraced lands
made with dry stone walls that are so typical in Liguria are nowadays threatened by hydrological instability, due to heavy
rains but also to the abandonment of the countryside and
the upper woods.

Mezzacapa: In Milan, when there is the fog you can't see. 
Antonio Caponi: Wow...and who can see that? 
Mezzacapa: What? Antonio Caponi: This fog, who can see that?
 Mezzacapa: Nobody.
 Antonio Caponi: I mean: if when there is the fog in Milan nobody can see anything, how can they know there is the fog? (Totò, Peppino e... la malafemmina, 1956). Totò is a very popular Italian actor from Naples. On this famous dialogue, taken from one of his movies, he uses a famous commonplace about Milan: the fog. By using it he actually shows how far the North and the South of Italy were - and sometimes still are to this day.

I chose the sea, the beach, its charming atmosphere during the winter to dispel the very common place that you can only enjoy the seaside in the summer season. It's in winter that the beach makes you think, leaves your emotions in the sea, no longer crowded but lonely, and therefore willing to listen. Even a stray dog, as the one in the picture I chose with the two men in the background, becomes a friend to whom you can whisper your dreams.

Soccer and religion, two italian passions. A room as a commonplace for commonplaces.

The internal courtyard of a middle-class condo in Turin, overlooking the hills.

The commonplace I chose can be read under both a regional and national perspective, and it's about religiousness.

Alghero October 2010 Sardinians hospitality. My grandmother always make pizza and cookies when someone visits her.

Telejato is a community broadcasting tv station, founded in 1989 in Partinico, thanks to Alberto Lo Iacono. Since 1999 Telejato has been directed by Pino Maniace, a man who has become a symbol both for free information and the continuous struggle against mafia. During its 20+ years of activity, Telejato had to face a lot of intimidation and attacks by the mafia. One among many impossible to forget is a letter addressed to Maniace containing death threats: it was suggested that he "keep quiet and leave the country”. To this day, Telejato keep making free information and fighting against every type of mafia, joining a community more cohesive and determined than ever.

"Under a Tuscan Sun" is the name of a book that in the United States has made Tuscany even more famous than it was already: it tells about an American lady's romantic getaway and, in spite of the genuine enthusiasm of the writer, can't help returning a stereotyped view of Tuscany at least to our eyes. "Under a Tuscan Sun" is also the name of a work in progress, in which I'm visiting Tuscan idyllic places that were in fact the scene of atrocious crimes, still unresolved. By doing so, I transform myself into a stereotype: the tragedy tourist. In the picture: Quercianella Pinewood, Livorno. A.V., 24, student, was killed on 19/8/2006 by a mysterious man while she was in the car with her boyfriend. The culprit was never found.

The sculpted portrait of Benito Mussolini is located in Piazza del Tribunale in Bolzano and dates back to the Fascist occupation (next to Mussolini is the movement's motto: "believe, obey, fight").
"South Tyrol can do without Italy", this is the translation of the election bill for Südtiroler Freiheit, a party that has been accused of insulting the national flag and taken from walls by the prosecutor in Bolzano a few weeks ago.
This is Italy but at the same time it isn't: common place for South Tyrol.

Communal lunch after olive picking for making "olio extra vergine".

"In the mountains they wake up early".

"A chi no ghe piase el vin, che Dio ghe toga anca l'aqua". A sentence in local jargon meaning "to those who don't like wine, may God deny water too": Veneto is known as a place where wine flows in torrents.