On the occasion of the 22nd Giornata del Contemporaneo, promoted by AMACI, the UniCredit Art Collection presents a selection of four works by Massimo Vitali: #1920 Papeete Beach Regatta (2006), #1466 Bagni Lido Verticale (2006), #0059 Riccione Diptych Right (2006), and #0049 Viareggio Air Show (2006).
Among the most important contemporary Italian photographers, Massimo Vitali (Como, 1944) has, since the mid-1990s, developed a body of work focused on places of social interaction and leisure, such as beaches, seaside resorts, swimming pools, and tourist destinations, observed through expansive views captured from elevated vantage points. This compositional choice, combined with the use of soft natural light and an extraordinary wealth of detail, gives his images both documentary and analytical qualities, transforming everyday scenes into complex portraits of contemporary society.
Through his work, the artist offers a collective vision of a new social geography of the contemporary world, in which the community becomes the protagonist and shared space emerges as a tool for interpreting the social, cultural, and relational dynamics of our time. His photographs invite viewers to read the present as a continuously evolving landscape, shaped by relationships, behaviours, and collective patterns of interaction.
Italian beaches become, in Vitali’s imagery, a representation of the landscape as a social construct, generated by the people who inhabit and traverse it. These spaces reveal shared practices, forms of coexistence, and ways of occupying public space, highlighting how social life contributes to the creation and transformation of place.
The dialogue between Vitali’s photographs and the historic heritage of Palazzo Magnani therefore offers a reflection on the relationship between the individual, the community, and the territory, proposing an interpretation of landscape as an expression of the cultural and social geographies of our time.
