In an entirely unexpected manner, Aurelio Amendola, world-renowned photographer, goes beyond his established practice of printing on paper to take on the challenge of the quintessential contemporary medium: digital photography. He presents his shots dedicated to Michelangelo on the screens of Rifugio Digitale. The gallery that hosted the exhibition derives its identity from its origin: an air-raid shelter built in Florence during World War II to protect the neighborhood from bombings. The renovation of the tunnel has given life to a space that hosts all kinds of artistic expressions, with a strong focus on the future and a marked preference for anything within the digital realm.

Antonio Natali, along with the photographer from Pistoia, selected these images, curating the exhibition and the book, inviting us to pay attention to something completely different from the canonical iconography we are accustomed to. We are presented with an iconoclastic Michelangelo.

Aurelio Amendola, born in Pistoia in 1938, during his exceptional career as an art photographer, has dedicated himself intensively to contemporary themes, creating a true gallery of portraits of the most famous masters of the twentieth century. In 2024, the Spazio Vedova in Venice showcased many of his shots in the exhibition “Amendola. Burri, Vedova, Nitsch: Azioni e gesti,” produced by the Emilio and Annabianca Vedova Foundation in collaboration with the Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini Collezione Burri.

Antonio Natali, born in Piombino in 1951, worked at the Uffizi from 1981 to 2016, serving as its director from 2006 to 2015. In 2006, he became Full Professor of Modern Art History at the Polytechnic University of Milan. At the Uffizi, he was also responsible for the departments of 16th-century, 17th-century, and contemporary art. Among the exhibitions he curated is the trilogy at Palazzo Strozzi dedicated to Florentine art of the 16th century (in 2010, 2014, and 2017).