Mario Dondero. Unpublished Works

The exhibition, curated by Claudio Composti , unveils to the public for the first time an exceptional collection of photographs that have never been published or exhibited , taken from the vast archive of Mario Dondero (Genoa 1928 – Fermo 2015). A great photojournalist and civilian witness to the 20th century , Dondero viewed photography not merely as a visual record, but as a moral choice, an ethical path and a weapon in the quest for truth.

The exhibition, staged in the evocative rooms of the Bard Fort Cellars , is organised into three main thematic sections : “Memories of the Present”, focusing on collective social demonstrations and movements; “Political Perspectives”, dedicated to the key figures in 20th-century political history ; e “Towards the world”, an intimate and profound tribute to the lives of the marginalised and ordinary people encountered in every corner of the globe. As a very young partisan in Val d’Ossola a journalist for long-established publications such as “New Job”, “Come on!” e “l’Unità” , Dondero has portrayed famous intellectuals such as Sartre, Beckett, Giacometti e Pasolini alongside workers and refugees. Through unpretentious photographs ranging from Greece under the Colonels at Franco’s Spain, from Berlin Wall at Post-Soviet Russia , this exhibition reawakens the potential for meaning in a rediscovered heritage, inviting visitors to engage in a critical act of observation.