A man born in the 1930’s in a poor family from Padua, a bustling town in Veneto, northern Italy. Perfect pitch and strong musical talent, he began playing almost by chance in Paduan clubs to embark on a musical career that would last a lifetime, taking him to Beirut, Lebanon, Teheran, Iran, Chianciano, Tuscany, Courchevel, France, in some cases living abroad for several years.
A woman born in the 1930s in Nova Milanese, a lively town in northern Italy, she worked from an early age in her parents’ bakery showing a great commercial inclination and then left home and town after meeting this man on a musical evening of the 50s in Lignano Sabbiadoro, a seaside town in North-East of Italy. She would follow him on all his travels around the world.
A marriage, two children and a house in Nova full of objects, photos and memories of an adventurous and unconventional life, a life beyond stereotypes and categorizations, a life encompassing East and West, belief and non-belief, belonging and uprooting.
This project is a tribute to my in-laws who passed away a few years ago and to a kind of love which was fully immersed in the fluctuations of human dynamics, yet remaining an old movie love, a deep bond that goes far beyond words.
They fully embodied my concept of family. Born in the ‘30s, my in-laws left their house and country embracing an adventurous life, strong in the firmness of their love and being able to build their own family abroad, one son born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1968 and the other one in Teheran, Iran in 1970. The whole family came back to Italy in 1979, but they brought along the richness of the encounters they have made while traveling. This was so clear in the objects characterizing their house in Nova, where all along with catholic symbols one would find for instance Iranian tapestries and Khalil Gibran’s poem “On children”.
Author: Floriana Avellino
IG: @floriana_avellino
WEB: /www.florianaavellinophoto.com
