Here and There

Italy is a land of great beauty. It has engaged me since I first visited almost 30 years ago, and I have returned many times. How easily the mind can stop at that lovely landscape. However, I quickly came to realize that just below that surface beauty, there lie important stories.   Some are uplifting. Some are very dark. They include the rise of the great Roman republic, Caesar’s seizure of power as Dictator, his assassination, and the plunge of that great civilization into civil war.   Two thousand years later the world witnessed Mussolini’s rise to power, the Holocaust in Italy, and the end of “Il Duce”, with Italy left in ruins.  Within these stories there are many villains, but many heroes as well.  Through the years I have photographed some of the places where these great events occurred and collected their histories.   Now I am very pleased to share these images and stories with you.  To my mind, they all hold important insights into the present times.

“The disadvantage of [people] not knowing the past is that they do not know the present.” — G. K. Chesterton