Ordinary Italians through the eyes of an Italian

Photographer Giancarlo Rado has been photographing ordinary people of Italy for three years — musicians, shepherds, bakers, farmers, cooks, priests, firefighters and circus performers.

Looking at these portraits, you vividly imagine Italians of various times — either colorful Fellini characters, then gentle faces of the Renaissance, or honest hard workers from the films of Vittorio de Sica. The photographer himself spent his childhood in the countryside somewhere in Treviso-perhaps that's why he shoots his characters as if he is flipping through an old photo album: with nostalgia and great love.

Gianfranco Stefenon. A horse breeder. The place of Ponte Stel, Kaoria, Trentino.

Gabriele Corona. Retired people. Kaoria, Trentino.

Luciano Stefani Punyalet. An accordion player. He worked in Turin for 40 years, after which he returned to his native places in the north-east of Italy, where he plays at folk festivals.

Claudia Zorzi. He works in the kitchen of the social service, which is engaged in the employment of disabled people. A big fan of the I Nomadi ensemble.

Marcello Coppe. Cook in the trattoria "At Mirka and Marcello".

Stephanie Suor. Riding a bicycle in the town of Ospedaletto, Istrana.

Stefano Bergamin. The artist, retired to a meadow in the vicinity of Possagno.

Nikola Alaimo. Hippies. He returned from Amsterdam, lives with his mother, misses his past life. Possagno.

Bartolomeo Conti. Collects coins on the coast. In his hands — a metal detector. Cavallino.

Andrea Salvotti. Underwater camera operator. Breakwater in the bay of Ausonia, Trieste.

Giorgio Gesauti. Head of a car recycling workshop.

Sergio Trovattori. At a workplace in Lamona, a town between Veneto and Trentino. Sergio's parents, being shepherds, plied for forty years between Lamon and Friuli.

Mario Paoli. He is engaged in ancient crafts. In the photo, he is holding a tool that he invented in his youth to make iron saucers. In his workshop in Pergina, Valsugano, Trentino.

Bruno Rizzato. Painter, varnisher.

Oliviero Menegol. Environmental worker. Canal-San Bovo, Trentino.

Saleswoman in the optics.

Giovanni Corona. A bricklayer. Kaoria, Trentino.

Vinz Fiore Sperandino. In the town of Lavedini.

Candido Stefani. The shepherd. Tempio di Ormelle, Treviso.

Marco Demattio Scota. The shepherd. Cavalese, Fiemme Valley. He goes with the herd to the mountains, where he is going to sleep in the fresh air all summer.

Renato Fronza and Sonya Montibeller. A shepherd and his wife.

Claudio, Luca and Andrea Fronza. Brothers from Roncegno, Valsugana.

Mirko Sandri. A shepherd in a shepherd's hut on the alpine pasture of Arpako. Trentino.

Ruggiero Sofa. The shepherd. Gorgo al Monticano.

Rosina Cecco. Behind the counter in the Kauriol bar. Kaoria, Trentino.

Pastor Piero Cadorin. Mareno di Piave.

Livio Baldi. A gardener who retails apples from his garden. Strigno, Valsugana.

Pio de Nardo. Agronomist. Mareno di Piave.

Franco Stefani. In the house of Ronco Cainari.

Gianvalerio Coletti. The butcher. Vazzola di Piave.

Luigino Balzan. The shepherd. Cuero.

Franco Moser and Mathilde Loss. Shepherds from alpine pastures. Passo del Brocon, Trentino.

Attilio. The forester. Kaoria, Trento.

Orietta Taufer. Director of a consumer cooperative. Kaoria, Trentino.