the origins of rome | chasing romulus |

The Tiber River is inseparably tied to the origins of Rome. According to legend, the future founders of the city, Romulus and Remus, were abandoned in a basket along its waters before being rescued by a she-wolf — a symbol that would forever define the identity of the Eternal City. Historically, for centuries, Rome’s survival depended on this river, its only vital source of sustenance and connection to the outside world.

“The blond” Tiber, as poets affectionately called it, appears from above as a languid serpent carved into the baroque body of the city. No other river in the world has witnessed such an immense flow of history, and yet today it lies neglected — invisible, almost discarded.

Following its course was like tracing the ruins of a lost civilization, where past and present merge into a single, continuous landscape. The Tiber becomes a metaphor for the cycle of life itself and a reflection on the contradictions of modern consumer culture. This project seeks to raise awareness by combining visual art with historical and scientific knowledge, encouraging a dialogue toward a society more attuned to cultural and environmental values.

Over the four and a half years of this project, I traveled the entire 410 kilometers of the Tiber — by canoe, by car, and on foot — photographing the river regularly every five kilometers, from its source to its mouth. My goal was to build a visual sampling of the river’s body. What first drove me was curiosity: a desire to understand the causes of its pollution and to rediscover its historical role, vital for more than two thousand years. I imagined my journey as a single day: the river’s source photographed at dawn, its mouth at sunset — the cycle of light mirroring the eternal flow of water and time.