Gioconda Rafanelli and August Kaciuruba photograph Tuscany beyond clichés for 'How Italy Feels'

Photographers Gioconda Rafanelli and August Kaciuruba contribute to 'How Italy Feels', a project curated by Marina Serena Cacciapuoti with Cesare Cacciapuoti of Italy Segreta, featuring twenty local photographers. Their chapter on Tuscany avoids stereotypical imagery, instead capturing a lived, off-duty dimension. The duo, partners in life and work, draw on memory, fashion, space, and cinema. They cite influences including Wong Kar-wai, Stanley Kubrick, Luchino Visconti, and Michelangelo Antonioni. Their collaboration began immediately, with Kaciuruba leaving his architecture job. They often cannot tell who took which photo, sharing a unified gaze. They prefer location shoots over studio work, integrating place into narrative. Their Tuscan focus includes Maremma, where Rafanelli spent childhood summers in Ansedonia, and Elba, a later discovery. They also frequent Chianti, walking at Volpaia near Panzano and dining at Cecchini. The photographers note that Milan taught them punctuality, while Tuscany allows time to dilate. They aim to avoid the 'postcard' effect by seeking secret aspects of iconic places. The concept of 'appucundria'—a bittersweet melancholy between nostalgia and desire—permeates their work, capturing moments before they slip into regret.