Places inhabited by people, the meaning of geography.
Loading ()...
-
80 imagesMarble is the only raw material that Italy exports in the world, everything starts from the Apuan Alps that dominate Carrara and that, thanks to the extraction basins just above the city, have always made it a unique panorama. The marble activity is however also widespread in other neighboring areas to the south and east of this city universally known for its product. Marble is rich and generates business and work, attracts artists and generates creativity in an open circuit. In recent years, however, the contradictions have begun, Carrara is became poor and unkempt, the extraction technology has evolved so much that many speak of environmental catastrophe due to the exploitation of the mountains, a lot of transformation work is done overseas, but a series of good energies play still in favor of these areas in the extreme north of Tuscany.
-
81 imagesThe "dance de tijeras", dance of the scissors, is a singular tradition of the central Peruvian andes, it is a dance that becomes a challenge of skill and courage that culminates in tests bordering on fakirism. A ritual that has no equal throughout the Andean chain
-
84 imagesWith the Dayton Accords of November 1995, ratified in Paris the following month, the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina effectively ended. It was neither the first nor the last phase of the bloody conflict that led to the progressive dissolution of the Yugoslav nation. However, it was the bloodiest, most fratricidal, most striking phase. Bosnia-Herzegovina was and is the most multi-ethnic nation of the various nations that made up Yugoslavia, in a geographical position virtually on the border between Western and Eastern culture, between Orthodox Christianity, Catholicism and Islam. Thirty years have passed, the country that has one of the most singular geopolitical systems in the world (an internal republic and a federation of ten cantons) is looking forward, not without contradictions. There is an adult generation born after the war that thinks and acts in a positive manner. The capital, Sarajevo, has regained its usual cultural character, other positive realities are present everywhere, interethnic hatred seems to have greatly diminished. All this is today's Bosnia, which does not hide its tragic recent past like dust under the carpet and looks with some hesitation at the entry into the European Union, for which it is on the list with other nations in the area.
-
53 imagesThey call it "mythical" this argentinian road that cover Argentina from top to bottom. It was founded in 1935 and seems to be an old lady that want to keep young. Argentina with its long distances, the big country of many conutries is here, along this road that striks the Andes: The Ruta Nacional Cuarenta wich someone comare to the U.S.A route 66.
-
39 imagesThe Q'ueswachaka bridge, in a far away location of the department of Cuzco, is the only bridge left along the old Inca road system to be entirely made of natural fiber and, despite having been outclassed by a nearby iron bridge, it stiil looks good on the Apurimac river canyon. All four nearby "comunidades campesinas" are in charge of rebuilding it once every year. These "comunidades campesinas" still hold their ancestral culture that originates straight from the Incan world and, through three days of holiday, their members all work together, starting from a thin rope to thick cordages which are pulled together so that both sides of the Apurimac river are connected. This is a work of ancient art and it’s becoming a heritage for all mankind.
-
58 imagesThe ancient Inca empire was extended along a huge band of territory west of South America that the current southern Colombia reaches a height of Santiago de Chile. This territory in which they lived many different peoples was well managed by the capital Cusco thanks to a highly branched system of roads: the "suyos" so they were called the four main arterial roads of the Empire, set off from the main square of Cusco to reach the furthest reaches , other roads were built across to connect to each other and then to the coast, mountains , mountains the forest. After five centuries, many of these roads still exist, if some parts are missing, in fact, some are still used by the people of the mountains, others are modeled on the path of the existing roads. For several years in Peru, by the Ministry of Culture is an ongoing study to identify and exploit paths, eight of which were made official in the application to Unesco Heritage. Along the suyos there are still many archaeological and above all there is an Andean world alive and well, a great people from a strong cultural identity, deeply rooted in the ancient past, but with all the contradictions of nowadays, looking to the future.
-
72 imagesIn the coming year the famous capital of Sicily will become the Italian Capital of Culture, a year when public and private activity in town will be centered on cultural events, one on all will be Manifesta12, one of the main contemporary biennials of contemporary art world-wide. The city has radically changed since the Mafia wartime of a quarter of a century ago. We could say that it is reborn and holds a lot to celebrate the concept of "culture" at three hundred and sixty degrees. From the museums and libraries centre that will host the 2018 events to a popular culture of traditional markets, street food and widespread hospitality. Palermo has always been a crossroads of nationality, so the migrant problem is very much felt, and anyway the newcomers have been perfectly integrated into the old town by giving the new one to the same. The culture of acceptance also has a cross-section, in the traditionally sexist society the acceptance of homosexuality has spread, the national association Arcigay was born here and for years the largest Gaypride in the Mediterranean area take place in the streets of historic centre. In the old town, craft culture has also been revived, through the Alab project, many creative young people have planted their sales labs in the old commercial funds abandoned for years. Last but not least is the culture of legality, various associations of civil society are working against the mafia concept, in town and in the neighbourds.
-
48 imagesTo the north of the imperial city of Cusco, a World Heritage Site and top Peruvian tourism, there is a long valley that serves as antechamber to Macchu Picchu, the most famous archaeological site in South America and among the most famous in the world. The valley is called sacred and is rich in archaeological sites and ancient villages dating back to pre-Columbian and colonial. It 'a place full of positive energy, everyone says, where a rural culture with a strong cultural identity coexists with holistic and creative projects at various levels, pursued by people who have chosen to live here in a non-consumerist and natural way. A balance between modern and ancestral, between spirituality and materiality thanks, it would seem, to the good energy of the valley
-
48 imagesIn the immense Peruvian Amazon basin, where the Andes give way to the woods and heat, there is a special place, where a reality made of cultural wealth, diverse and abundant agricultural production, respect for nature and widespread social approval is the result of an ancient Teutonic colonization. A large group of impoverished Austrian and German farmers arrived here in the mid-nineteenth century, cultivated a valley and founded a colony. Since then towns have mushroomed, other people came from other areas of the country, creating a de facto multiculturalism, however Teutonic names and faces have not been lost, and cultural identity persists through an architecture inspired by that of Central Europe and through traditional Alpine clothing and dances.Those ancient emigrants recreated a farming civilization similar to where they came from, which their descendants have modernized without changing its original identity.
-
41 imagesA dynamic capital, with a speed higher than other Latin American capitals. A city where the languor of the continent is mixed but in reality is just a boundary of the dynamism typical of the new world.
-
43 imagesSao Paulo is many things, is the largest city of Brazil, is not the most beautiful , is the multi-ethnic city with the largest Japanese community outside of Japan. And is 'the city of skyscrapers where the public parks are green islands far from the streets chaos. And is the cultural capital of the country.
-
32 imagesAfter years of neglect and danger due to drug trafficking Bogota hath been redone changing the look from the inside. The current Bogota is a dynamic and open to new, very young and a bit 'undeground with important artistic trends from fashion to graffiti, full of civic initiatives worthy of a European metropolis Bogota is a city that is put into question and that does not leave anyone behind programs such as the insertion of the homeless in the modern process waste site.
-
32 imagesLima, the horrible gray city grew too fast. The city where the tourists go away quickly toward the mountainous part of the country. Lima is one of the most dynamic capitals in South America and is the heart of the booming economy of Peru. She grew up too fast and with still many infrastructure problems is rapidly changed during the last decade, thanks to the economic boom to national pride and the desire to have fun.
-
41 imagesSome followers of a Dutch Anabaptist prophet, back at the time of the breakings between European catholics, are non violents and deeply faithful, always in search of a coherent life between doctrine and everyday life. The mennonites, in name of Menno the Prophet, realized for five centuries various migrations, by creating colonies in the two Americas, many timeskeeping a traditionalist life style, almost denying a whole world, in general keeping an archaic german language. In Latin America the strongest experience is the one of Filadelfia, created at the beginning of the XX century in the North- East of Paraguay, in an inhospitable area named Chaco. Now Filadelfia is a city with a quiet rich economy based on the earnings and the transformations of the zootechnical products, the confidence, the cooperativism and the Mennonite life style created a pleasant place, with something of Central Europe, in the middle of a shrubs desert. Here as well, the Mennonite doctrine had to come to terms with the modern world; of the various colonies of the area, some have a very traditionalist life structuring; others have adapted the religious principles to the new millenium by creating a union between avant-garde technology and life in compliance with the ethnic and the religious tradition.
-
24 imagesBelterra is a municipal seat and rubber plantation site some 40 km south of the city of Pará. Belterra was founded as a rubber plantation, after the economic failure of Fordlândia, which had been founded in 1934 by Henry Ford. The intention of the US-Department of Commerce in the 1920s was to produce rubber in Brazil and to import it to USA. The advantage of the Belterra plantation over the plantation of Fordlândia 100 km to the south is the flat topography, which enables the use of machinery. In its peak time in the late 1930s some 50 km² were cultivated with Hevea Brasiliensis (rubber tree).In Belterra, new breeding methods with local varieties were applied, which prevented the leaf disease, a result of the monoculture in Fordlândia. This was very labour-intensive and therefore expensive. Together with the worldwide decline on demand on natural rubber, the plantation was not cost-effective anymore. Ford sold it to the Brazilian government, which is still running the plantation. Nowadays the planation don't work anymore and Belterra is a quiet place that seems to live of his pasts
-
37 imagesAmong the peruvian islands of Lake Titicaca Amantani is the largest. It 'a place imbued with a magic of its own, as it is immersed in the silence of the lake and strong colors of the Andes. Dominated by the Incan ruins on its heights, the island live off the land and plenty of sheep's wool, the women wear the traditional costume as everyday dress, electric light and motor vehicles are totally missing. Everyone is using the Aymara, language pre-Columbian used instead of Spanish during both official and private. A wedding to Amantani is a public event which involves all the inhabitants of the island. A wedding like that of Felix and Guendy is celebrated when the house is ready , even if the children have already been born. In Aymara wedding, civil ceremony, not a Catholic, mingle Andean symbols and universal symbols, godparents have a fundamental role in supporting stronger than that of the parents, the gifts that all the inhabitants carry the bride and groom, are nothing more than " choclo y papas ", corn and potatoes, to cook; atavistic sign of the basic necessity of preserving food for the difficult moments . The banquet consists of a single dish, the usual everyday but more abundant. It 's a vibrant and colorful celebration, which lasts several hours, eating, drinking and dancing, a party whose light (the energy) will eventually come symbolically to the bridal chamber.