“This is how it always ends. With death. But first there was life. Hidden beneath the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It’s all settled beneath the chitter chatter and the noise. Silence and sentiment. Emotion and fear. The haggard, inconstant flashes of beauty. And then the wretched squalor and miserable humanity. All buried under the cover of the embarrassment of being in the world, blah, blah, blah, blah…Beyond there is what lies beyond. I don’t deal with what lies beyond. Therefore…let this novel begin. After all…it’s just a trick. Yes, it’s just a trick.”

– Jep Gambardella, La Grande Bellezza (2013)

Here are some of those “haggard, inconstant flashes of beauty.” All photos were taken by the author during the 2016-2017 Academic Year.