Romadiva

Photos by Albert Russo, texts by Eric Tessier, Albert Russo, Daniel Michelson and Sébastien Doubinsky
ROMAdiva is a picture book illustrated with color photos of Rome by Albert Russo, containing poems in English, Italian and French, by Eric Tessier, Albert Russo, Daniel Michelson and Sébastien Doubinsky.
Lovers of Rome, this book will enchant you. ROMAdiva showscases the Eternal City in its variegated moods through the superb and often striking color photography of Albert Russo and the fine texts, in English, Italian and French, of four contemporary poets. This is not a travel book, but rather a book of art where literature and photography complement each other.
With ROMAdiva you will discover the more intimate aspects of the Italian capital: here, the details of a singing fountain, there, the corner of a Renaissance building, still farther away, a couple gazing at passersby from a bench in Piazza del Popolo. There are also famous statues, like that portentous Christ by Michelangelo, the interior of a church dome, or lesser known works of art, like those frescoes of an angel and a prince, a military band, playing under a monumental bas-relief, all the while two matrons are chattering away, the poster of a lovely lady advertising a famous Italian brandy, children frolicking in the water under the mouth of a benevolent-looking lion. There is humor too, portrayed by that stone rabbit, salivating in a rose garden, or by that toothy transvestite, straight out of a Fellini movie. You will also be impressed by the huge head of a bull set in a courtyard, whilst a Roman maiden in white marble lazes around nearby.

The poetic texts sound like a polyphony in four voices, spelled in three languages, each having its own music and cadences.