"Riviere" (2014) is the story of an island that was my grandfather’s obsession, an island that he spotted during a trip in the waters of the Adriatic sea, an event that was never figured out.

One morning in September 1991, my paternal grandparents took part in a boat trip off the coast of Rimini, on the Riviera romagnola. They were headed to the place where, 22 years before, the Italian State bombed the Island of Roses, a platform in the middle of the sea designed and declared independent by an italian engineer.

While they were out in the open sea, my grandfather spotted something offshore, he was sure that it was an islet, he told it to the men on board who denied the possibility that there was any.

My grandfather will always remain firm in his conviction, so, the story of the sighting and the connected issue of the Island of Roses were his small obsession.

For years I have not been able to establish the boundary between reality and fantasy, to understand how far my grandfather had been right. But the truth is another story.

These images are a tribute to his tales.

Valentina Vannicola