{"id":3070,"date":"2024-12-06T11:31:39","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T10:31:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quadernicontinentali.it\/biographies\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T17:22:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T15:22:35","slug":"biographies","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/quadernicontinentali.it\/en\/biographies\/","title":{"rendered":"Biographies"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Manuel Cicchetti (1969-2026)<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Manuel Cicchetti built his artistic career in the 1990s, across music, theatre and the visual arts. He created album covers for BMG, EMI and CNI, and worked as a production photographer for major theatres and music companies, including the Teatro Regio in Turin, I Pomeriggi Musicali and Compagnia dell\u2019Opera Buffa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1999, he directed his first theatrical production for Cantieri Internazionali d\u2019Arte di Montepulciano: Philippe Petit\u2019s On the High Wire, also designing the set. In 2001, in Milan, he staged Orfeo a fumetti as part of the Suoni e Visioni festival, inspired by texts and illustrations by Dino Buzzati, with music by Filippo Del Corno. Around the same time, he founded Officium, a company specialised in the production of cultural events, collaborating on projects such as Milan\u2019s Festa della Musica, Peter Gabriel\u2019s WOMAD and the opening ceremony of the Sestriere Ski World Championships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 2000 and 2015, he worked for renowned international companies such as J. Walter Thompson, Fullsix, Reply, Weber Shandwick, Hill+Knowlton and Young & Rubicam, covering roles that spanned from creative consultant to artistic director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016, profound personal changes led him to shift his focus and dedicate himself entirely to photography, pursuing the study of landscapes and places as holders of memory, transformation and contemporary cultural identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His gaze engaged with reality in all its complexity, working in black and white, colour and medium format film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over his career, he published four photography books: Monocrome (2018, Touring Club Italiano) \u2014 a homage to the contemplative silence of the Dolomites; Vaia. Viaggio consapevole dentro un disastro (2020, The Music Company) \u2014 an account of the destruction left behind by Storm Vaia; Tempo Intermedio (2022, Postcart) \u2014 an exploration of contemporary Italy and its suspended landscapes; and Dolomiti. Un paesaggio tutelato (2025, Marsilio Arte), created with writer Antonio G. Bortoluzzi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cicchetti\u2019s work has been exhibited at several major Italian institutions, including the Milan Natural History Museum, Palazzo Ducale in Genoa, the Museo Rimoldi in Cortina d\u2019Ampezzo, Palazzo Bembo in Belluno, Le Stanze della Fotografia in Venice, and as part of the Bergamo Brescia Italian Capital of Culture 2024 events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, he returned to directing with Forest, an interdisciplinary show that blended photography, music, dance and theatre to create an immersive exploration of the relationship between humanity and nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The show featured Susanna Beltrami (DanceHaus), Giuliano Vozella, Angelo Miotto and Salvatore Lazzaro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2024 also marked the beginning of his collaboration with BenEssere and Famiglia Cristiana, magazines for which he produced editorial portraits and photography projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His work is now at the centre of an extensive travelling exhibition across Italy and Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2026, the European Parliament in Brussels hosted his last exhibition, part of his Continental Notebooks project, created with journalist Angelo Miotto in collaboration with Corriere della Sera and Marsilio Arte. The work was the result of a journey of over 50,000 kilometres across Europe aimed at developing a new European atlas through photography and testimonies \u2014 a portrait of the peoples, landscapes and identities that continue to unite the continent despite its borders and current fractures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exhibitions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n