An intimate and evocative journey between extraordinary architecture and love stories through 42 photographs. Famous homes and hidden corners become the backdrop and witness to profound relationships, which photography makes alive and tangible, in a delicate balance between inhabited space and emotional experience.
A reflection where the hut is a symbol of primitive dwelling
That is, the primordial refuge to defend oneself from the adversities of nature and a model that modern architects have kept in mind as an archetype of the first home. The two matrices constituted by family intimacy and architectural design represent the starting point for a journey that began in 2020 and ended in 2024, among particular and extraordinary homes for their design characteristics and for the couples who have chosen them as their home, building there a memory that Daniele Ratti's photography has been able to capture and tell.
Michael Coppola, Executive Director of Art, Culture and Historical Heritage of Intesa Sanpaolo, states: “The Gallerie d'Italia in Naples are a successful example of a place dedicated to art and culture. An open and dynamic museum that speaks to everyone. Photography is not missing, returning after the young artists chosen by the Paul Thorel Foundation. Daniele Ratti's work, his research and his intriguing photographs of exclusive places represent a delicate and poetic form of storytelling, with images that find a perfect home in Via Toledo. A commitment to continue to welcome and surprise the many visitors to our Neapolitan headquarters.”
The exhibition opens with two photographs dedicated to Le Cabanon, an iconic refuge designed by Le Corbusier as a birthday present for his wife in 1951, a symbol par excellence of essentiality and complicity, off the waters of the French Riviera. A few meters from that place stands Eileen Gray's Villa E-1027, designed to share a love also codified in the name of the house itself. The protagonists of the exhibition also include José Saramago, Mimmo Jodice, and Michelangelo Antonioni with Monica Vitti, for whom La Cupola was created in Sardinia: a habitable sculpture that dialogues with the Gallura landscape.
Who is Daniele Ratti (Milan, 1974)
After graduating in Architecture at the Polytechnic of Turin, he has been dedicated to photography since 2000. His first solo exhibition dates back to 2004. Alongside his authorial career, he also works as a curator, including the artistic direction of Paratissima in Turin. He exhibited during EXPO 2015 in Milan and at the Gallerie d'Italia in Milan, as part of a project curated by Mario Calabresi. The Next Stop project was selected for The COVID-19 Visual Project. A Time of Distance (2020), Festival Cortona On The Move. He participated in the group exhibition Volti e racconti dai margini: Fotografia e arte da Afghanistan, Tanzania, Kenya e Ucraina, as part of the WeWorld festival (May 2025). His photographs have been published in various national and international publications. His works are part of the permanent collections of the PAN - Palazzo delle Arti in Naples and the Bartoli Felter Foundation in Cagliari.
The Naples museum, together with those in Milan, Turin and Vicenza, is part of the Intesa Sanpaolo Gallerie d'Italia museum project, led by Michele Coppola, Executive Director of Art, Culture and Historic Heritage of the Bank and General Manager of the Gallerie d'Italia.
