Catania from Salvo Olimpo’s perspective
Citymap SiciliaThe beauty is in the eye of the beholder, they would say the most. And who photographs, we will add. For this, among our favorite locals photographers is Salvo Olimpo.
A professional and a fan of Sicily. Able to always grasp a detail, a particularly evocative aspect of our land. His shots are real narratives for images and tell our beloved city of Catania, of course. From the top of our volcano Etna to the surroundings that look to the sea and touch the most admired and photographed places.
We interviewed him and asked him for his personal vision.
Tell us about yourself, who are you and how did your passion for photography come about?
My name is Salvo, I am a photographer for passion since many years. Catania is my city, and often my muse. The love for photography comes from very young, when my parents gave me my first “camera” (a Yashica fx-3). Since then, the camera has become my travel companion, from North Africa to Europe and then around the Mediterranean with backpack and shoulder strap tripod. But above all, I love going around the Sicilian villages in search of a moment to tell, the story of a place, an alley to be discovered or a monument to be immortalized.
Over the years, through the study of various photographic techniques, I developed a particular passion for urban and night-time landscape photography (“cityscape” to put it with a social term) and Sicily, particularly Catania and its surroundings, are an incredible tank from which to draw to make my shots. I also love to develop personal projects in which I create portraits set in our beautiful urban and natural landscapes, such as the “ballerina project” of which I am particularly proud, and the time sliced project (the city of Catania portrayed in “time strips”).
A place in Catania and surroundings that every citizen and tourist should discover and photograph and why?
I do not have a single “place of the heart” to recommend to tourists and fellow citizens who visit Catania. Naturally those who visit the city for the first time can not but follow the classic itineraries of Catania: from Piazza Duomo to Via Etnea, from Via Crociferi to the Greek-Roman Catania. But I advise those who goes around the city not to stop at the only visit of the building or the most famous monument, but if possible deviate to discover what I call our “hidden treasures”: inside the courtyards of via Vittorio Emanuele and via Garibaldi, the Catania Liberty, the alleys around Via Etnea or the inside of the less “famous” churches. I also recommend a tour of the “city from above”: from the dome of Badia Sant’Agata to the eaves walkway of San Nicolò l’Arena, from the Diocesan museum and, why not, if you are lucky you may be able to see clearly Catania and Etna. And these places at sunset offer an incredible show.
A place you have not yet photographed and why would you like to shoot it?
I state that every time I visit and photograph a place in the city I immediately discover several others to photograph around.
What are your next projects?
Upcoming projects already planned are: “Florence by night” and in Summer: Portugal. Then I have other projects in mind that are still top secret, for sure Catania will still be the protagonist.