Grand Tour

«What does it mean, nowadays, to measure oneself with the legendary experience of the Grand Tour, so much so as to title one's own work after it? It is no secret that the Grand Tour's itineraries are at the basis of Manfredi Gioacchini's work. However, when flipping through the pages of this book, one cannot help but wonder whether this journey is a physical one, one that has actually been travelled and aims to document, or a journey of the mind, a voyage within the awareness and memory of such spaces?
This is precisely where Gioacchini's fascinating photographic story comes to life, around such subtle ambiguity; in the tangible landscapes and in the abstract essence of the places he visits or inhabits. With an engaging gaze, ready to be astonished and open to the wonder of discovery, the author invites the observer to contemplation. For this reason, his photographs take on the added value of a true 'style,' closer to Ghirri's approach to landscape rather than that of the Alinari brothers, or of 18th or 19th century paintings.
After all, as the Emilian maestro said: 'photography isn't a copy or timestamp of the physical world, captured by the eye. Rather, it is a language in which a difference between reproduction and interpretation, however subtle, exists, and gives life to an infinity of imaginary worlds.' From Naples to the Amalfi Coast, to the Palladian villas and Venice, from the Puglia region to the cities of Rome and Gaeta, right up to the hills of Bologna, passing by Mantova, Milan and Turin; in his personal Grand Tour, Gioacchini grasps the stratification of cultures and civilisations that make up the Italian genome, turning it into a privileged observation point able to express the western world's history in the blink of an eye. Some have called it a "contemporary space," for it cradles different eras simultaneously. In this way, the landscapes we are shown are not just visual representations, but rather representations of what a culture has to offer.» (Corrado Benigni)