White Sea

Mount Matanna is a gentle peak in the Apuan Alps, a mountain that never imposes its presence but rather accompanies. Its rounded shapes, soft slopes, and almost complete absence of aggressive verticality make it a welcoming, almost domestic, summit, capable of offering ample spaces and open horizons. It is a mountain that asks for nothing but gives back a great deal.

In the 2020–2021 season, winter in the Apuan Alps was unusual, intense, as I had rarely seen before. Even the lower peaks were covered in a generous blanket of snow, to the point of becoming almost unrecognizable. Mount Matanna was no exception. The weather conditions were anything but favorable, but the desire to see the Apuan Alps transformed by that snow was too strong to stay in the valley.

I set off for Matanna, a peak that in summer can be reached with an easy trek in less than two hours. I wanted to understand how those abundant snowfalls had changed the landscape, how such an accessible mountain could alter its appearance. Arriving at the ridge, the scene was surreal: significant snow cornices, wind-blown snow, and an environment that suddenly seemed like high altitude. The wind was blowing strongly, visibility was unstable, and for a long time there were no real conditions for taking photographs.

Then, for just a moment, everything aligned. I had the camera in my hand, without a tripod. I saw the sun timidly peek through the clouds, while the wind severely tested my balance. I took a shot towards the summit, with the Matanna cross in the background and my tracks still visible in the snow, bearing witness to a fragile and temporary passage.
This image was born from that brief and unrepeatable instant. And the sincere desire remains to one day see Mount Matanna like this again: transformed, silent, almost unrecognizable.