Photographic diary of a long coastal journey in the colors of contemporary Italy
texts and photos by Paolo Carlini
In the summer of 1959 Pier Paolo Pasolini gets behind the wheel of a Fiat 1100 to travel “the long sandy road” between Ventimiglia and Palmi, and then go back on the eastern route to Trieste. Italy seen from its beaches and the streets of the immediate hinterland: that border area between the crowded urgency of life and the infinity of the horizon. Between the festive and holiday consummation of the present and the expectation of tomorrow. The diary will be published first in a magazine and later in a book entitled, precisely, “The long sand road”. More than sixty years have passed since Pasolini’s project, but that idea of the coastal journey reveals itself today – in these months of pandemic anxiety – as then effective, if not necessary, to see and, if possible, understand our country. . Paolo Carlini set off in the middle of last summer. Up and down, including the islands. A colleague (Camilla Albertini) and the dog Milka. And the Volkswagen California in the Beach version: two beds on the “upper floor” and two on the “lower floor”. Vehicle, shelter, viewing platform, den, study, bed, kitchen, archive of memories … Everything. The diary is entrusted to the images you are about to see. Comment just enough to contextualize them, geographically and sentimentally.
