Claudio Barontini’s photobook called “Cinque terre, i giorni della vendemmia” (Cinque Terre, the harvest days) tells an ancient story that is made of efforts, creativity and beauty, with beautiful photographs taken against the backdrop of one of the world’s most iconic terraced landscapes.
With this book, the Cinque Terre National Park wants to pay homage to its winemakers, who are the creators of the century-old landscape and custodians of local biodiversity and culture. The photobook was commissioned in 2019 by the Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre in occasion of the 20th anniversary since the establishment of the park.
“Cinque Terre, the harvest days” features 144 pages with texts in both Italian and English by Donatella Bianchi and Patrizio Scarpellini, respectively President and Director of the Cinque Terre National Park, and by Stanislao de Marsanich, President of Parchi Letterari®. In the book you will also find a selection of verses by Eugenio Montale, the poet who loved Cinque Terre and the Gulf of Poets.
The images are by photographer Claudio Barontini, whom we had the pleasure to interview in occasion of the preview of his photographic book “New York”. A photographer since 1973, Barontini was born in Livorno, Tuscany, and became a professional in 1990. In addition to collaborating with various magazines, he also works with exhibitions in museums and art galleries, and is the author of photographic books such as: Portraits of celebrities (2010), Muscolai (2014), Lindsay Kemp Claudio Barontini – Disegni e fotografie (2018), New York (2019) – among others.
In his latest book, Barontini immortalizes the extraordinary bond between wine, landscape and culture, all values to be preserved and protected. He described his experience of witnessing the centuries-old “vertical” harvest as follows:
In this book, I chose to go beyond the logic of the single village or winery, preferring to describe the Cinque Terre as a unique territory characterized by a strong cultural identity. The corpus of proposed images is the result of the often empathic encounter with the winemakers I portrayed in the terraces and vineyards overlooking the sea, during their patient and tiring work that begins at dawn, when the sun is still “far” from the fields. It’s a story in images that starts with the restoration of the dry stone walls – a millenary and fundamental work for the agriculture and inhabitants of the Ligurian coast – and goes through the ancient operations of hoeing, tying the vines with broom, and leaf removal… All the way up to the harvest and the final “chapter” of winemaking in the cellars. It’s a journey of portraits, gestures, details and sensations that I have tried to convey in the book. Because, as I always say at the end of my work, every story I photograph becomes part of mine.
The book can be bought online on the website of Polistampa Firenze or by contacting amministrazione@ati5terre.it.
