Villaggio dei fiori

When I moved to the Villaggio dei Fiori I had no idea what was going to happen. My love story ended really bad and I just needed a new place to stay as soon as possible, no matter where, just cheap and fast. A good friend of mine offered me the house where she used to live with her grandmother in the west of Milan (Italy), between the public housing neighborhood of Primaticcio and Giambellino. I didn’t know the area but the price was convenient and I had to accept it, moving in from one day to the other. As soon as I arrived I felt, for the first time in years, at home. In total contrast with Milan, a metropolitan city, here the people live not just their houses, but the whole neighbourhood, the streets and all their inhabitants. For me, starting to take pictures of the area, in particular Via dei Gigli, was a natural necessity to tell and share all the special people that live here, where everyone has his own strong story, and where the houses themselves seems to be built to let the people share their daily living, knowing, helping and sharing with each other.  I photographed my neighbors and tried to tell their stories, like Domenico’s, who is growing his two daughters alone, Martina and Alessandra, who bring me homemade meatballs and pasta because I help Martina with school. Or the story of Greta, who had a tragic accident but now is in love and happy and she likes to invite me down for breakfast, or Marco and Luisa and their dreams of moving to the Canary Islands and the reality of finding their car that has been Burnt one day of autumn. “Villaggio dei Fiori” is the story of this special community of people.