I started publishing photographic books about Venice in 2007 and I just published “One, no one and fifty thousand”, about the last inhabitants of Venice!

One, no one and fifty thousand

“One, no one and fifty thousand” is my last published book, a ten years journey inside the houses of the last Venetians.

“One, no one and fifty thousand” is my last published book, a ten years journey inside the houses of the last Venetians.

Here they are the last Venetians. First portrayed in their homes by my Leica, a lot of curiosity and stoicism. To capture the right snapshot, the fleeting shot that captures forever a world increasingly in danger. A contemporary fresco, made up of people, environments and unpublished stories.

A city is like a living organism, it grows by changing and at the same time remaining itself according to a genetic code inscribed in its own history, in the uniqueness of its "forma urbis". The soul of a city, the "invisible city", that shows itself through its visible form, lies in this balance between immutability and mutation, in the relationship between city and citizens, between "stones and people".

Over time, each city produces its own articulation and signification of space, which reflects the "invisible city", with its stories, knowledge, rituals. Visible city and invisible city become one, like the soul and the body.

One, the individuality of the person; no one, the inhabitants who will survive in the cities of art, and fifty thousand, the number of residents remaining in Venice, which in 1951 numbered 174,808, and who are sounding the alarm to other cities of art in the world.

These photographs bear witness to an era. They are fragments of a civilization in danger that will be studied, in a few centuries, thank to these "artifacts" of art.

Neorealist shots. A thread of memory reconstructed with care, which links people's stories with their living environments. Greater or less famous artists, men and women portrayed in their homes. Prestigious palaces and homes, ancient residences, but also social houses, worn-out places that give us the sense of a hard battle for survival.

Each subject is depicted in the environment where he lives, his home. The fresco is formed by the sum of its details. A world that hands down a cultural heritage of ancient reminiscences.

You can buy this book simply by writing me on my email address: marcdetol@yahoo.it

My other published books

My first book was “Venice on the edge of light”, a four-year journey, trying to catch the best light, just after dawn or before sunset. It was presented to the public and the press in the prestigious Café Florian in San Marco’s square. 

For the presentation of the book was chosen an essay by Giorgio De Chirico:

“Venice somehow stands apart from Italian life – indeed, from terrestrial life itself. It is another planet altogether. There is something dreamlike about it. What I have always liked about Venice is the sky. Or perhaps one should say “the skies”, for the vast area that opens up beyond Riva degli Schiavoni changes with every hour of the day, is continually becoming the sky of a totally different world. For me, Venice is a city-bound up with the fate of exceptional men. Personally, I feel comfortable within Venice, there is something in the air that encourages relaxation and repose; something unearthly breathes across the lagoon, stimulating dreams.”

Two years later I published “Gondole”, and I was very surprised to discover that no one had ever thought before me to publish a photo book about the most famous boat in the whole world, the gondola, and the reason probably is that not even Venetians themselves can know everything hidden behind the construction of this boat, as it is not only made up of wood but iron, brass, varnish, fabric too.

Professor Alvise Zorzi, in his beautiful presentation, in a passage writes:

“Only those who have experienced the sensation of rowing atop the high board on the stern on which the gondolier stands out against the skyline like the statue of Fortune of the “Dogana da mar” can understand the heady sensation it creates, the infinite range of emotions it opens up. Rowing a gondola is no easy task, however, and even experienced gondoliers can find themselves dashed into the water due to a treacherous, unexpected movement of a headstrong filly the gondola can prove to be.”

Another photographic work lasted years, always in collaboration with the publisher Biblos, covers all the provinces of the Veneto Region. In the preface of the book “Journey in the Venezie”, you can read:

“The Veneto region is a land of images; it is rich in all that beautiful images can add to the life and consciousness of a man. The imperceptible values of a cultivated plain, laid out like a huge garden, form a single whole with simple houses in which stone, color and even the atmosphere itself speak of the perfection of construction and purpose.”

You can find my Photo Tours and Photo Walks in Venice in my dedicated website: www.photowalkinvenice.com