Photographic book documents Italy coast to coast during pandemic summer

In summer 2020, photographers Camilla Albertini and Paolo Carlini, accompanied by their Bernese Mountain Dog Milka, embarked on a 50-day road trip around Italy's coastline in a two-tone Volkswagen California van. Starting from Trieste and traveling clockwise to Ventimiglia, including Sicily and Sardinia, they covered 9,585 kilometers, 324 of which on foot, resulting in 14,210 photographs. Their journey is documented in the book "Italia coast to coast. 1 van, 50 giorni e 9585 km" published by Silvana Editoriale (Cinisello Balsamo, 2021, 208 pages, €35, ISBN 9788836648931). The book is not a tourist guide but a visual and written diary capturing everyday life along the coasts—showing both beauty and flaws like unauthorized buildings, peeling housing projects, half-finished constructions, stalls, plastic toys, and roadside shrines. The images evoke nostalgia, irony, and a desire to join the journey. The text includes a logbook with emotions, details, and small stories, offering a contemporary reflection on what 19th-century abbot Antonio Stoppani called the "Bel Paese." The work highlights Italy's diversity and unity, its campanilismo and nationalism, especially during football matches, and its relatively short 160-year history.