In the Cadore Valley, work is currently underway to modify and improve the local transportation network through the construction of roads and infrastructure in preparation for the 2026 Winter Olympics. In particular, the Alemagna State Road is being redesigned to improve traffic flow. At the same time, however, these interventions are removing a significant amount of green space, something I noticed especially in San Vito di Cadore, where the road will also pass just a few meters from the town cemetery.
Many residents oppose these changes, particularly the proposal to build temporary prefabricated structures that would be removed once the Olympic Games are over. Rather than destroying existing landscapes for a temporary event, it would certainly be fairer to both the territory and the people who live there to reuse available spaces, such as the former Eni Village. This could also provide an opportunity to restore and renovate the site, allowing it to be used for meaningful purposes in the future.
Starting from this situation and from the desire to visually represent the transformation currently taking place in the area, my project developed into a series of images showing how human beings have inserted themselves into, and become intertwined with, the natural environment in which they live—here, the territory of the Dolomites. Over time, people have reshaped this landscape according to their needs through roads, bridges, dams, fences, and all the structures that enable them to move through the greenery of forests and meadows, and among the rocky mountains that define this region.
The photographs offer a complete immersion into the green of forests and meadows, as well as the many shades of rock. Within these natural landscapes, traces of humanity occasionally emerge through fragments of man-made structures, subtle signs of a constant human presence and of the continuous interventions carried out on the territory. These interventions are often driven by human needs and interests, frequently without sufficient consideration for what should be a greater concern:
the environment itself and the natural world that surrounds us.
These small artificial interruptions within the images are sometimes more evident and substantial, while at other times they are hidden and seemingly insignificant. In every case, however, nature occupies the majority of the frame. This choice reflects the idea that, no matter how extensively humans alter and reshape the places in which they live, they will always remain only a small part of the vast world that hosts them—a world for which we should care every day, rather than acting with the selfishness that is increasingly contributing to the disappearance of environments we arguably need far more than another state highway.
The images are arranged in a way that guides the viewer’s eye through the series without always following a harmonious or orderly path, mirroring the nature of human interventions in the landscape. Human constructions are often out of step with their surroundings; they can disrupt a certain balance and harmony within a place. This is something that should be carefully considered and respected.
