Possible Landscapes – We thought we were shaping Vesuvius, but it was Vesuvius that shaped us

We often tend to consider disciplines as watertight compartments, each with its own field of application. However, history, archaeology, anthropology, botany and volcanology communicate with each other, inevitably intertwining in the analysis of the phenomena they study. The links between these subjects emerge spontaneously, and only through careful and in-depth observation is it possible to reveal them.

The documentary *Paesaggi Possibili*: art and science in dialogue

This premise is essential to understand the background of the documentary Paesaggi Possibili, an artistic project imbued with science, created by Claudio Rodolfo Salerno, director of the Institute for the Diffusion of Natural Sciences. The documentary was born as a visual and sound investigation of the Vesuvian territory, the result of a work of relationships shared with the populations that inhabit it.

Abandoned places, memory and beauty

Through multiple interventions, the project explored abandoned places, buildings consumed by time and ruins in which the past seems to have crystallized. The direction of Claudio Rodolfo Salerno returns a forty-five minute work that merges art and science in a visual and sound journey.

On the set of ANOMALIA in Ponticelli: 60 students tell their school in a short film 26 March 2025 - 19:14

The theoretical basis: The evolution of the Vesuvian landscape

The basis of the documentary film is the text *The Evolution of the Vesuvian Landscape*, edited by the director of the Institute for the Diffusion of Natural Sciences. This volume collects observations and reflections on the evolution, natural and anthropic, of the Vesuvian landscape, taking as a reference the eruption of 79 AD, whose effects extended over a very large area.

A shared path between scholars and artists

The first reflections on the creation of the text date back to 2017 and developed in a context of dialogue between scholars, artists and researchers, culminating in the conference cycle Dialogues on the Vesuvian Landscape of 2019. Paesaggi Possibili represents the visual and sound extension of this research.

A work in progress between art, light and memory

The project is a work in progress that continues to investigate spaces full of memory and traces of lived life. Domestic environments, abandoned shops, everyday objects now consumed by time: every detail restores the presence of man and the flow of history.

Aesthetics of fragility and tension with modernity

The documentary restores the aesthetic dimension of fragility, in a continuous dialogue between light and matter, where the abandoned landscape reveals itself through the changing play of shadows and natural lights. But in this process of rediscovery a tension creeps in: modernization, which often threatens to empty places of their original memory.

The artistic and scientific team

The documentary film is the result of a joint effort between artists and professionals:
– Raffaele Riccardi – video editor
– Lino Monaco and Nicola Buono – Vesuvian Soundscape
– Stefano Piancastelli – photographer
– Anita Pagano – performance voice
– Dario Macellaro, Luigi Buffone, Ilaria Cotarella – project management and media
– With artistic contributions by Stefania Sabatino, Felix Policastro, Paola Ricciardi, Gabriele Pierro

Scientific voices in the documentary

The teachers interviewed in the documentary:
– Giuseppe Luongo – volcanologist
– Massimo Ricciardi – botanist
– Luciana Jacobelli – archaeologist
– Maria Rosaria Senatore – paleo-sedimentologist

The official presentation of the documentary

On the occasion of the presentation of *Paesaggi Possibili*, the following will speak:
– Institutional greetings by the Italian Institute for Philosophical Studies
– Nicola Caputo – Councillor of the Campania Region
– Aldo Vella – Architect, founder of *Quaderni Vesuviani*
– Raffaele De Luca – President of the Vesuvius National Park Authority
– Antonio Varone – Ministry of Culture, former Director of the Pompeii Excavations
– Giuseppe Luongo – University of Naples “Federico II”
– Claudio Salerno – President of the Institute for the Diffusion of Natural Sciences

A mix of science, art and storytelling

Paesaggi Possibili collects scientific, artistic and literary narratives that form the basis of the publication The Evolution of the Vesuvian Landscape. Lectio magisteri, interviews, readings, artistic actions, sound specific creations and moments of socialization with the population are intertwined in the docufilm.

Time suspended between memory and resistance

Visiting these places means immersing yourself in a suspended time, between fragility and resistance. An ancient bell tower, a terrace overlooking the sea, a house in ruins: each space preserves its history. Art becomes an invisible thread that stitches the places to the collective memory.

The works featured in the documentary

Water facts
Dedicated to the photographer Gabriele Pierro, the work explores an ancient Vesuvian landscape accompanied by the sound of a storm. The multi-screen installation narrates the ancient world through compluvium and impluvium, restoring to memory Pierro's work and sensitivity.

Religion covers the landscape

A visual and emotional journey in the procession of the Madonna della Neve in Torre Annunziata. Between intense faces, stolen gestures and kitsch clothes, religiosity and popular tradition intertwine. The seascape silently observes the script of faith and devotion.

The Open Roads

Site-specific installation in the maritime areas, explores the connection between town and port through symbolic ramps. The fisherman becomes Glaucus, a mythological figure and metaphor for memory and change. Stefano Piancastelli's black and white images capture the soul of the place.

Date and place of presentation

The documentary will be presented on the afternoon of May 9th at the Italian Institute for Philosophical Studies, at Palazzo Serra di Cassano in Naples. The meeting will be moderated by Luigi Buffone, Project Management – ​​Institute for the Diffusion of Natural Sciences.