Exhibition | Massimo Listri. Fotografie

“Listri is, as we know, a creator of beauty; an indefatigable seeker of the harmony and beauty buried beneath the ‘crust,’ often so rich in superfluities and contaminations that it is no longer recognizable.” This is how critic Vittorio Sgarbi describes Massimo Listri, the Florentine photographer capable of translating spaces into art.

After a career that began at a young age, during which he published his photographs in prominent design magazines, Listri’s images of the most beautiful palaces, museums, extraordinary villas, and architectural works of all time have become the focus of solo exhibitions at prestigious institutions worldwide, including Palazzo Reale in Milan, the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, the Quirinal Palace and Vatican Museums in Rome, Palazzo Reale in Turin, the Correr Museum in Venice, the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, the Italian Institute of Culture in Washington, the Museum of Modern Art in Buenos Aires, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Museum of Modern Art in Bogotá, and the Shanghai Himalayas Museum.

In September, his art arrives at Manifattura Tabacchi with the exhibition Massimo Listri. Photographs, organized in collaboration with Gruppo Editoriale.

The show features 19 large-format works, the most imposing of which is nearly 3 meters long, including iconic photographs as well as some unpublished ones. Among these are two images of Manifattura Tabacchi itself, captured by Listri for a feature published in the 50th issue of the magazine Firenze made in Tuscany, taken during the early stages of the restoration work that began in 2019.

Five years later, the spaces of Manifattura are revealed to the public through Listri’s absolute and historically infused perspective, alongside other extraordinary places such as the Palace of Versailles, the Royal Palace of Caserta, the Vatican Apostolic Library, The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Royal Palace of Naples. These works exemplify his photographic language, which, through color, light, and perspective, imparts a sacred silence to these historical sites, allowing the viewer to immerse themselves in spaces that, though devoid of human presence, come to life by rediscovering their original beauty.