When I was offered the job of ‘photographing’ the Ticino wine-growing world, I was immediately attracted by this new challenge but, to be honest, I had no idea what I was about to face.

 

I had worked in Milan in the field of advertising photography: photo studios, agencies, design, fashion: it was clear that I would be confronted with ways and times that were completely different from those to which I had become accustomed in more than thirty years of experience.

 

For about a year I travelled through the valleys of this Ticino, much admired by many tourists but sometimes misunderstood and underestimated by those who were born here, and I had the opportunity to rediscover a wonderful territory of which we must be proud, and it is also thanks to those who, with hard work in the vineyards or cellars, contribute to preserving and enhancing our territory.

 

But above all, I had the good fortune to meet the women and men of wine: I met the ‘old’ but in spirit still young, who thanks to their intuition have been able to qualitatively transform Ticino's viticulture; but also the young people who with courage and at the expense of a less tiring life have chosen to stay close to the land.

 

I saw them in the cellars or in the vineyards, always hospitable and discreet, whether they were at the head of major economic activities or tending smaller vineyards.

All different, inimitable, not always in perfect agreement with each other but united by one great passion.

 

At times, they were a little shy when they first met, but it took little for a strange light to shine on their gazes, a smile to run across their faces, and lo and behold, they opened up and spoke to you with true love of the land and of their ‘special child’, wine.

 

I thank them all: for the indispensable help they offered me, for the sincere friendships that were born, but above all for passing on to me the deep feeling that binds them to their work and to our land.

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