Under the arcades of Via XX Settembre in Genoa
Under the arcades of Via XX Settembre in Genoa.
The photo was taken while I was walking under the arcades of Via XX Settembre, aimlessly, simply letting the rhythm of the city accompany me. I was there, sheltered from direct light and traffic, in that continuous corridor that in Genoa seems to suspend time. The arcades have this power: they keep you inside the street but at the same time a step to the side, in a more intimate, almost private dimension.
I remember well the feeling of being protected. Outside, the street flowed as always, with voices, quick footsteps, shop windows reflecting fragments of sky. Under the arcades, however, the noise faded, deepened, made of footsteps echoing on the asphalt and words lost among the columns. It’s a space that invites you to slow down, even when you don’t mean to.
In the photo, you can only see a random stretch, and for this very reason, it’s representative. No recognizable points, no iconic details. Just columns, shadows, pavement, perspective. I like to think it could be any moment, any day. It’s a photograph that doesn’t tell the story of an event, but of a state of being under the porticoes, balanced between inside and out.
Via XX Settembre is one of Genoa’s liveliest streets, but beneath its porticoes, another, quieter soul emerges. Here, the city reveals itself in layers. Above, the elegant facades, the tall windows; below, this continuous space that accompanies the journey and makes it more intimate. As I walked, I noticed how the light constantly changes: at times sharper, at times almost absorbed by the walls, creating soft, elongated shadows.
The porticoes aren’t just an architectural feature, they’re a way of experiencing the street. They protect from the rain, from the sun, but above all, they allow you to observe. You can stop without attracting attention, watch people pass by, and capture details that would otherwise be missed. It’s an ideal place for photography, precisely because it doesn’t require attention: you just have to be there.
Looking at this image today, it gives me that precise feeling of suspension. I wasn’t going anywhere, and perhaps that’s precisely why I took the shot. Sometimes the best photographs come when you stop looking and just look.
Have you ever felt a single, anonymous stretch of street tell you more than the entire city?
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Photo taken with Canon EOS RP and lens Canon RF 24-50.
Under the arcades of Via XX Settembre in Genoa – Sous les arcades de la Via XX Settembre à Gênes – Bajo los soportales de Via XX Settembre en Génova – Sob os pórticos da Via XX Settembre em Génova – Unter den Arkaden der Via XX Settembre in Genua – Dưới những mái vòm của Via XX Settembre ở Genova – 热那亚二十世纪大街的拱廊下 – ジェノヴァのXX Settembre通りのポルティコの下
The text of this post was written with the help of ChatGPT, a language model from OpenAI.
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