Isolation and hallucinatory bread: Portrait of an Italian island with just 100 inhabitants
curve fi


Each summer, the remote Italian island of Alicudi attracts a slow drip of tourists looking to escape the trappings of modernity. There are no cars or even roads on the two-square-mile volcanic outcrop, though footpaths are traversable by donkey. And while cellphone coverage is now available in most places, many houses lack electricity and water.

For the island’s residents, of whom there are around 100 (and whose number fall steeply in the winter), the remainder of the year is arguably far from idyllic.

With no hospital, residents must travel by ferry — or, in an emergency, helicopter — for medical treatment. The island’s school is reportedly closed due to the shortage of children, according to Italian photographer Camilla Marrese, who visited Alicudi during the Covid-19 pandemic to document everyday life there. And while there are two grocery stores and a bar to socialize in, the latter is only open three months of the year, she added.
“For the rest of the year, the big social gathering (entails) going down to the pier when the boats come in — they just go there to check who arrived and who’s leaving,” Marrese told CNN in a Zoom interview alongside her partner and collaborator Gabriele Chiapparini, who added: “Some houses are two hours’ walk away from the pier, so those people watch through binoculars.”

Hoping to capture a rare snapshot of the island and its inhabitants during winter, Marrese and Chiapparini spent a total of two months exploring Alicudi, photographing its nature and befriending its residents. The resulting book, “Thinking Like an Island,” brings together stark portraits and landscape shots that speak to a profound sense of isolation.