Studio Marangoni tells about Badia a Coltibuono

Badia a Coltibuono is a place where history intertwines with everyday life: from its medieval roots to the present day, every stone, garden, and glimpse of the landscape tells a story of centuries of culture and dedication.

The photographic campaign carried out by Eleanor Docherty, Antonino Pellegrino, Leonardo Vitti, and Gianluca Sansevrino, under the supervision of Donato Sambuco and within the framework of the Fondazione Studio Marangoni programs, aimed to highlight this unique heritage by creating a dialogue between architecture, nature, and people.

If the landscape and buildings help define the identity of Badia a Coltibuono, it is the faces and stories of those who work there that bring it to life. Through their images, the authors have portrayed the contemporary reality of the estate, offering an authentic and profound look at the people who, day after day, keep its spirit alive.

Wine—the beating heart of Badia a Coltibuono—was the common thread running through all the projects. Each author developed their own research to narrate an aspect that makes Coltibuono a truly unique place, through a residency that immersed them in its values, atmosphere, and the genuine rhythm of life that animates it.

Studio Marangoni

For over thirty years, Studio Marangoni has been a benchmark in Italy and Europe for the education and promotion of photographic culture.

The school stands out for a teaching approach that combines artistic training with professional development, guiding each student through a comprehensive journey of personal and creative growth.

Since its foundation, Studio Marangoni has promoted photography and audiovisual media as tools for research and cultural dialogue, offering young authors the opportunity to engage with internationally renowned professionals and major institutions. The projects developed in collaboration with public and private partners represent experiences of great educational value and, at the same time, opportunities to produce images that offer a collective and contemporary vision of the world.

Badia a Coltibuono is one of those places where stone, light, and vegetation reveal a constant tension between permanence and transformation.

Through the dialogue between interiors and landscape, these images seek to convey the density of silence and the slow breathing of history. Every dusty bottle, every shadow on the wall, every piece of furniture becomes part of a narrative that speaks of waiting and transformation; of a fragile and perfect balance between nature and culture, between what is preserved and what evolves.

Badia a Coltibuono thus becomes more than a place: it is a memory device, a living body in which the past is not a residue but an active presence. It is in this overlapping of matter and history that the space of the contemporary gaze is defined, inviting us to rethink time not as a line, but as a visual and cultural stratification.

I took a spontaneous approach to documenting the people who bring Badia a Coltibuono to life. The images are captured in snapshots: a pause during a conversation, a nervous laugh, the simple yet confident gestures of an expert hand. A series of breaths captured amidst the myriad activities that offer an admiring glimpse into the movement, care, and dedication of this community.

The Badia’s surroundings, from day one, have only prompted me to meditate on the factor of time and the stratification of collective memory, repetition, and tradition.

What seemed most natural to me to observe was everything that remained aside, silent in the preparations. Everything was listening and waiting, for the handed-down gesture, the promise of the harvest.

It is the beginning of the ritual, a waiting as a form of the sacred.

Badia a Coltibuono is the historical testimony of those who lived in this place, and those who did, dedicated themselves body and soul to it.

Through these shots, I have told the story of the place, not only with what you see, but with what you “feel.”

I have slowed down time, focusing on details and shapes: the contrast of materials marks time and creates new tangible forms. This is where the invitation to discover the history of this place comes from, more closely and more slowly.

The Badia dominates a hilly promontory in the heart of Chianti Classico, in a seemingly natural landscape that has in fact been heavily shaped by human hands. Around Coltibuono, however, a vast area of ​​forests, rocks, and streams still stands, seemingly left intact and untouched.

It is from these elements of nature, seemingly untouched here, that my research begins, before turning my lens to the Badia, a place of peace and tranquility where stone becomes a church, trees become columns, and the stream becomes ornamental basins and pools. Their beauty belies the hard work of man, who here, daily, fights to protect them from that “harsh and strong” nature that is just outside, always ready to reclaim them.