In the 50’s the first Italian “vacationers” pioneered seaside lifestyle, migrating in mass to the coast areas as soon as the heat approached the cities.

All along the coastline, the expansive sandy beaches were soon reserved for the wealthy. Other areas, mainly rocky, were turned by local governments into wood or cement platforms for people to sunbathe on, which made the staying by the sea more practical also for the middle classes.

Focusing on shapes, forms and colors found in these environments, my objective was to show how the people express themselves in the seaside arena: the seemingly simple act of sunbathing is transformed by the Italians in another art form. Ever conscious of their looks, color combinations and shapes of their bodies, they pose in nature and in the surroundings as they were on a catwalk, thus reassuring us on the fact that “vanity belongs to everyone” no matter their status or wealth!

As these Italians pause in the heat and lightness of life in summer, my aim was also the one of exploring deeper aspects of our social structure.

In older times of our history, “form meant substance”: how someone appeared defined who that person was. An italian would manifest to his peers his upbringing,

studies, power and wealth. As we look even closer at this spectacle, this position of a man in a tightly defined system of other men is evident. Even here at the remnants of public beaches, Italian men pose and imitate each other like boys at play. This is a culture of eternal childhood, which is fundamental to our society. These men never come out to confront themselves in the real world. Even when they are able to build their own home and family, these men continue to exist in their original, protected environment, never really abandoning their homes, their mothers, and their childhood, as if they were living in an eternal summer.

Pietro Chelli

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Eternal Summer