In the context of the Month of Europe 2025, on Friday 25 April at 4 p.m., a photographic exhibition dedicated to one of Italy's most emblematic and ancient traditions will be inaugurated at the Universal Art Building of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Cuba: the Palio di Siena, the historic horse race that has been held for many centuries in the splendid Tuscan city.
Financed by the Italian Embassy in Havana, with the patronage of the Cuban Ministry of Culture, the exhibition is realised in collaboration with the Punto 8 Association, the Municipality of Siena and the Consortium for the Protection of the Palio. The curatorship is entrusted to Claudia Acevedo.
The exhibition offers an original and contemporary interpretation of the Palio through the images of two photographers: the Italian Marco Delogu and the Cuban Carlos Torres Cairo. Far from tourist stereotypes or folkloristic approaches, the exhibition invites reflection on the historical and cultural relevance of the Palio. The two artists, with different styles, establish a visual dialogue that expresses the symbolic power of this event, in a harmonious balance between passion, art and tradition.
Marco Delogu's photographs, taken between 1998 and 2021, belong to the series 'I Trenta Assassini' and portray Palio jockeys from different generations. Through intense, high-contrast black-and-white close-ups, Delogu captures the essence of these men and their ambivalent relationship with the contrade they represent.
Carlos Torres Cairo, for his part, who worked as a photojournalist in Italy in the late 1990s, offers a more abstract narrative, focusing on hidden details of the celebration that reveal the Palio's innermost soul and suggest symbols and interpretations beyond the simple images of the race. The exhibition will be open to the public until 25 May, Wednesday to Sunday, on the fourth floor of the Universal Art Building of the National Museum of Fine Arts.
Marco Delogu (Rome, 1960) is a photographer, editor and curator. He founded and directed the Fotografia di Roma festival for fifteen editions. Former Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in London, he currently chairs the Palaexpo Foundation. Carlos Torres Cairo (Havana, 1962),
Engineer, photographer and publisher. Founder of Aurelia Ediciones (1996), publishing house specialising in visual arts books and catalogues. In the 1980s, he began to dedicate himself to the study of photographic art, eventually becoming a member of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba in 1994. His photographic works have been exhibited in Havana, Florence and Toledo.
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