The exhibition “Italian Routes. Mountains, mountaineering, climate change”, curated by landscape photographer Fabiano Ventura and promoted by Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Italian Embassy to Kosovo and the Italian Cultural Institute of Tirana, has come to Peja. The inauguration, in the presence of Ambassador Antonello De Riu and the Mayor of Peja Gazmend Muhaxheri, took place on December 28 at the Art Gallery “Shtëpia e Kulturës” (Enver Hadri Str., Peja), where the exhibition will be open from December 29 until January 29 (Monday-Friday, 10:00-17:00; Saturday and Sunday, 10:00-13:00) with free entry.
«With this exhibition, which has already made stops in Vietnam, Korea, Switzerland, Georgia and is simultaneously taking place in Albania, we intend to bring to the public the great Italian tradition related to mountain culture and mountaineering as a tool to understand the mountainous terrain», Ambassador De Riu said. «It is no coincidence that we have chosen Peja for the Kosovar stage of the exhibition. Here, in fact, the Italian Development Agency is implementing the aid project called “NaturKosovo”, with the help of “RTM” NGO and in cooperation with the Italian Alpine Club (IAC) and the Utalaya Foundation among others, to give value to cultural, historic, and natural resources to one of the most picturesque areas of the region, in order to stimulate economic development that respects the environment, create jobs for the residents of Rugova Valley, support local institutions for the governance of tourism, and promote the Kosovar Via Dinarica”, the Head of Mission added.
The central part of the exhibition, “Italian Mountains”, is an ideal journey spanning from the Gran Paradiso group, crosses the entire Alpine arc from west to east, crossing the massifs of Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa, and Cervino, the Bernina, the Ortles-Cevedale, Adamello, moving to the eastern area towards the Dolomites and the Julian Alps. The Italian route concludes with a ninth stage dedicated to the main Apennine Mountain group, the Gran Sasso.
Each of the mountain groups is represented by large-format photographs that enhance the suggestive landscape aspects and by historical and contemporary images that highlight the evolution of the glacial masses, emphasising the effects of climate change on the mountain landscape. Each group is accompanied by an introductory panel illustrating its geographical, historical, and geo-glaciological characteristics, to which the proposal for a visit itinerary is added. Finally, each mountain segment is enriched by reproductions of historical documents and materials on the first mountaineering explorations.
A section of the exhibition is shown simultaneously in Tirana, Albania, in the Harabel Exhibition Space (Ibrahim Rugova Str.), in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute. For the Tirana stage, an exhibition dedicated to Albanian mountains of the well-known mountaineer and photographer Fation Plaku was set up.
Fabiano Ventura is a landscape photographer specialising in environmental issues. He has taken part in numerous scientific, photography, and mountaineering expeditions to the wildest and most remote places on Earth. Since 2007, he was involved in the “Sulle Tracce dei Ghiacciai” project (On the traces of glaciers), of which he is the creator and director. His attention to the issue of climate change has led him in recent years to focus a large part of his activity on one objective: to spread knowledge of this phenomenon among the general public as much as possible. Thus, accompanied by researchers and directors, he went to photograph the incredible transformations of the largest glaciers in the world on the spot and is disseminating the results of his work through exhibitions, conferences, education programs, installations, documentaries.
