CECK THE COLOFON OF CITIES 16 AT DEDICATED PAGE

About Naples" by Marco Petroi

I leave. I will not forget either Via Toledo or all the other districts of Naples; In my eyes it is, without any comparison, the most beautiful city in the universe.

Stendhal

Questioning the identity of one of the most stratified cities in the Mediterranean is the goal of the project What is Naples? by Marco Petroi. Rather than looking for a single definition, the photographer chooses to immerse himself in the Neapolitan complexity, returning a visual narrative that goes beyond the surface and stereotyped iconography. "In this photographic project I wanted to tell all this by showing from my point of view what Naples is", explains the author, who for the occasion adopts a precise stylistic choice, filtering the urban chaos through images "deliberately in black and white to enhance the contrasts that this city offers, without color distractions but leaving only room for emotions".

Petroi's bet is played precisely on the ability to tune in with the kinetic energy of the Campanian capital. His investigation does not evade the complexity of the public dimension: "Naples is chaos, confusion, walking through the streets of the historic center certainly does not make you relax". Yet the lens captures the profound humanity that redeems and reshapes this disorder: a dimension made up of food, art and "unique feelings thanks to the warmth of the people who live in this city".

For Petroi, the urban experience requires a definitive change of perspective, a formal invitation to the reader: "abandon the tourist dress and wear that of the Neapolitan people". Only in this way does photography stop documenting and finally begin to let the city breathe.

Sonia Pampuri