A photography project titled Botteghe aims to highlight the beauty of the city of Florence through the artisans who still call it home.
Florence is one of the world’s most beautiful cities, and home to many stunning works of Renaissance art and architecture. Photographer Guido Cozzi wants to bring the spotlight to his hometown through the perspective of the people who have long been responsible for its allure and character: the artisans. Titled Botteghe, his photography project aims to showcase the creative spaces where their masterpieces come to life.
“Florence is beautiful because it’s made by hand,” Cozzi said on his Kickstarter campaign, stressing the importance of artists and artisans since the Middle Ages. Their bottega (plural: botteghe) — workshop or place of work — is where the magic happens. He adds that the project is imperative as the workshops have been slowly disappearing. “For this reason it seems important to me to talk about it and to make known the workshops still open.”
Cozzi plans to create a photo book that features large photos of these workshops, as well as an outdoor exhibition at the Oltarno (he’s eyeing Piazza Santo Spirito for this) which will be free and open to the public. He hopes it will be the starting point for people to visit the workshops, also be open to the public, guided by an especially designed map. The exhibit is planned to open in the Spring of 2020 and will run for a month.
BOOK FEATURES
- 30×38 cm (approx. 12×15 inch)
- 144 pages 130 gr, printed in Italy in high quality
- Hard cover with color dust jacket
- 60 selected pictures of workshops
- About 100 photographs
- Explanatory texts in Italian and English
- Workshop map attached
“The book is not the only purpose of this project: it is a means to allow the realization of the exhibition and therefore the knowledge of these great last artisans who have made the city of Florence so beautiful.”
Botteghe still has a long way to go and 36 days left in the campaign. If you’d like to see it happen and grab a copy of the photo book, head to the Kickstarter campaign now to make your pledge.
All images from the Kickstarter campaign by Guido Cozzi