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Dolca Via: Charles Traub's photographs of Italians enjoying the good life in the lively 1980s

Sensual and sad, bursting with colour and pleasure, magnificent even in its melancholy, Charles Traub's photographs from the streets of Rome, Florence, Naples, and Milan in the early 1980s, capture the eternal nature of Italy, and the very essence of its lively people.

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Via Creative Boom submission. All images courtesy of the photographer

Via Creative Boom submission. All images courtesy of the photographer

Characteristic of his imagery is a candid intimacy that combines humour and spontaneity, which makes us long for an Italy that maybe only once was. Brilliant blues, reds, and yellows engulf the baroque posturing and gestures of strangers and ordinary people who become fond archetypical caricatures. Traub’s friend and guide, the late photographer Luigi Ghirri, said of the imagery, "You see our foibles, strip us bare, make love through the camera, and then venerate us."

The photographs were made with a Plaubel Makina 67, using Kodak colour negative film. Now available to enjoy in a new book entitled Dolce Via, this is the first monograph from a large selection of work produced in that period. For more information, visit charlestraub.com.

Five children in swimwear stand in front of an ornate stone architectural facade with classical sculptural reliefs, in Rome during the 1980s
Two young girls in red shirts stand on a jetty beside moored boats and calm turquoise water in what appears to be a Mediterranean harbour
Five young men pose together against a weathered stone wall, some shirtless, in Rome during the 1980s
Man crouching on a blue bicycle against a weathered wall beneath a green poster advertising La Chitarra in Rome, 1980s
Children playing jump rope on a cobbled Roman street lined with historic buildings, whilst adults and parked cars occupy the scene behind them
A person lies on sand near concrete blocks on a beach, with beachgoers and a modernist building visible in the background under clear blue sky
Two elegantly dressed older women stand against a dark weathered wall on a Rome street, one adjusting her sunglasses whilst the other holds a shoulder bag
Children play on a sandy beach while a dark horse wades in the shallow water amongst moored boats, with a hillside city in the background
A nude figure straddles a bright red bicycle on a Rome street whilst pedestrians in dark coats and hats walk past storefronts
Older man in light blue suit and striped tie sits on a stone bench holding a wooden cane, against a weathered stone wall in Rome during the 1980s
Two children sit on a red bench beneath a large tree in a sandy playground surrounded by fencing and green foliage
Two women with curly auburn hair walk hand-in-hand down a sunny urban street in 1980s Italy, passing a motorcyclist
Two visitors with umbrellas stand with a pram on a path beneath the ancient Temple of Concordia in Agrigento, Sicily
Three nuns in blue headscarves and cream robes stand outside a shop window displaying mannequins dressed in formal wear on a Rome street in the early 1980s
Man in red and white striped shirt sits in open-top car facing a striped Renaissance church facade in Italy during the 1980s
Four women in bikinis relaxing on a waterfront wall beside historic brick fortifications in 1980s Italy
Woman wearing a pale straw hat positioned in front of an ornate weathered bronze sculptural capital with lion heads, with historic architecture and tourists visible behind her in what appears to be an Italian piazza
Four people pose with a white Vespa scooter on a sunny Italian street lined with historic buildings and shops.
Child in yellow dress and orange hat gazes at classical stone fountain sculptures in a sunlit Italian piazza during the 1980s
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