L'Aquila launches largest online photographic observatory on post-earthquake Italy

Eight years after the 5.9 magnitude earthquake that killed 309 people and devastated L'Aquila, the online platform 'Lo stato delle cose. Geografie e storie del doposisma' has launched as the largest permanent photographic observatory on earthquake aftermath in Italy. Curated by journalist Antonio Di Giacomo, the non-profit initiative involves 60 Italian photographers who have contributed over 200 photo galleries and 10,000 images. The project documents L'Aquila today and post-earthquake Italy, covering abandoned villages after the 1980 Irpinia earthquake and the 2016-2017 Amatrice and Central Italy quakes. Two-thirds of the photographic archive focuses on L'Aquila and its territories, where 35 photographers began documenting in spring 2016. The observatory aims to provide an honest plural narrative of reconstruction, avoiding aestheticization of ruins. It covers cultural heritage rebuilding sites and neglected schools, and includes work by students from the Accademia di Belle Arti. Writers Angelo Ferracuti, Franco Arminio, and Loredana Lipperini contribute narratives. The site includes a section called 'Passato Prossimo' dedicated to reportages in Sicily's Belice Valley and Irpinia.