LucadeaLuca is the creator of this site. He travels the world for work and loves taking photographs and sharing them with all his visitors.

The Fisherman statue in the Bay of Silence.
Whenever I walk into the Bay of Silence in Sestri Levante, my attention often settles again on the Fisherman and the houses standing so close to the sea. It is one of those subjects I keep photographing because the relationship between the statue, the water and the buildings changes with every viewpoint. Even when the scene is familiar, moving a few steps can make the sculpture feel completely different within the frame.
I took this photograph on July 13, 2023, following the same instinct that has brought me back to this corner of my hometown many times. When I have my camera with me, I almost naturally look for the Fisherman. I am not interested only in recording the sculpture itself. What keeps me coming back is the way it belongs to the landscape around it, with the sea and the houses creating a setting that is immediately recognizable as the Bay of Silence.
If you are visiting Sestri Levante and wondering what to see in the Bay of Silence, the Fisherman is one of those details worth noticing rather than simply passing by. The sculpture stands on the rocks beside the bay and adds a human figure connected with the area’s maritime character. In Sestri Levante, Liguria, Italy, it has become a familiar part of the coastal view and a natural subject for photographs of the bay.
From a photographic point of view, I like the fact that the statue cannot really be separated from its surroundings. The rocks, the water and the houses by the shore all become part of the composition. This makes the image more interesting to me than a straightforward photograph of a sculpture. The Fisherman gives the eye a clear point to start from, while the rest of the scene provides the context.
There is also a small detail about the sculpture that helps explain its connection with the place. Made in bronze, it depicts a young fisherman lowering a net into the sea. The gesture refers to the traditional relationship between Liguria and fishing, while the position of the figure makes the connection with the water especially direct. I find that this simple subject works well precisely because it does not feel detached from the setting.
Over the years I have photographed the same statue from several different perspectives. On another occasion I went much closer to the water and photographed the Fisherman from below the surface using a GoPro and a dome. That experiment changed the proportions of the scene and showed me once again how much a familiar subject can change through photography. I also wrote about that different viewpoint in another post about the Fisherman in the Bay of Silence from below the sea.
This photograph from July 13, 2023 is therefore part of a longer personal relationship with the place. I have photographed the Bay of Silence many times, but I still find myself returning to the same subjects. The Fisherman has become one of the visual landmarks I instinctively look for when I am there with a camera, especially when I want the photograph to include both the sculpture and the houses along the shore.
For me, that is one of the pleasures of photographing a place I already know well. I do not always need a new location or an unusual subject. Sometimes it is enough to return to a familiar view and look at it again. The Fisherman, the rocks, the sea and the houses give me a composition I recognize immediately, but each photograph can still feel slightly different because my own way of seeing it changes.
That is probably why I continue to photograph this statue whenever I return to the bay. It has become one of the images I most naturally associate with Sestri Levante, not because it replaces the landscape, but because it sits so comfortably within it.

Have you ever photographed the Fisherman in the Bay of Silence? Add a comment or go to the bottom of the site to read what other visitors have written.

Photos taken with a Canon EOS RP camera and a Tamron 16-300 lens.

Here is exactly where the statue is located:

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