MATTEO BROGI • Ritratti di letture
Agora I Z • Palazzo Strozzi • Florence • Italy
March 19^th – April 11^th 2010

MATTEO BROGI • Ritratti di carta
The British Institute of Florence • Firenze
October 7^th – Decembere 31^st 2009

Ritratti di letture (Portraits of readings) is a project devoted to reading which draws a selection of well-known figures from Italian and British culture, each one representing a particular area of public life in Italy and the UK. Each reader participating in the project was asked to select eight to twelve books which held a particular importance for them.

The series of photos represents an immense psychological portrait, in which the books speak for the readers, saying more about them than a simple photographic portrait of the reader could.

The two exhibitions already displayed (see above) were part of Ottobre, piovono libri, an initiative organised by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities to promote reading and libraries.

Giancarlo Aragona, Italian Ambadassor to the UK
James Bradburne, Director General of Palazzo Strozzi
Alessandro Cecchi, Director of the Palatine Gallery and Boboli Gardens
Edward Chaplin, British Ambassador to Italy
Antonio Ciccone, Painter
Margaret Drabble, Author
Christine Ferdinand, Fellow Librarian, Magdalen College, Oxford
Antonia Ida Fontana, Director of the National Library in Florence
Bona Frescobaldi, Businesswoman
Paul Ginsborg, Professor of Contemporary European History, University of Florence
Matteo Renzi, Mayor of Florence
Hugh Roberts, Director of the Royal Collection, and Surveyor of The Queen's Works of Art, London

All the books are from the British Institute of Florence’s collection. The British Institute of Florence, a cultural institute founded in 1917 in Florence, promotes Anglo–Italian cultural relations, teaches English and Italian languages and manages a lending library of English books to illustrate British and Italian literature, art, history and music. The Institute runs an important cultural programme throughout the year featuring guests from throughout the world. The archive containing documentation relating to the rich history of this Institute, the oldest overseas British cultural institute in the world.

© 2010 Matteo Brogi. All rights reserved.
No part of any photocan be reproduced in any form or by any means and for any purpose without the express written permission of the author.