Photographer Stefano Azario is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this photo essay. From the series Portraits From ‘In Cerca Della Retta Via’. To see Stefano’s body of work, click on any photograph.

In search of a path

In one way or another, we are all in search of the path that is right for us; of a way of life that allows us to feel in balance and in harmony with the people and things which surround us.

Like the searcher, the place itself, Lunigiana, also seeks a new way. Crossed in ancient times by the Via Francigena and now by a motorway, it remains for many a land of passage.

By chance or by fate twenty years ago my family and I put roots down in a local forest but shortly after left for distant lands.

I returned seeking a creative shift that had yet to manifest. These images are my journey between January and May 2022.

The project is a mix of portraits and possible paths, to follow or leave. I wanted to meet people and hear their stories and I photographed routes to find my own path ahead. There are photographs of those who have just arrived and those who never left, of newborns and centenarians, of friends and of strangers.

There are well beaten paths and marked roads and dirt roads to the unknown; we can change direction at an intersection or we can venture and search for one.

The possibilities are endless but the way, our own.