This article originally appeared on VICE Italy.On the 26th October, 2009, at exactly 4:44PM, photographer Niccolò Berretta took his first photo of people crowding Rome’s Termini train station – the largest in Italy. If you've been there in the past decade, there’s a chance you actually met him, or maybe that he noticed you. In his vast archive of photos you’ll find commuters, station employees, homeless people, tourists and regulars, all photographed in Berretta’s come-as-you-are style.
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The photos have now been published in a book, Stazione Termini, Lookbook 2009-2021, with international distribution from April 2021. For Berretta, the image that epitomises the project is his portrait of an older man wearing a white undershirt, which he chose as the book’s cover image. “He looks like he’s travelled in time,” Berretta said. “The contrast between him and the people in the background perfectly expresses my point of view."
The image that serves as the book's cover shot.
Although he found it awkward at first, Berretta has become accustomed to approaching strangers to take their picture. “Sometimes they ask me if I want money for the photo,” he said. “In the moment I just laugh about it. But who knows, it could be a business idea for the future!” Berretta has continued the project throughout the pandemic, but his subjects aren’t ordered chronologically in the book. As a result, people wearing masks just pop up organically here and there. There are also a few regulars at the station who appear more than once, and who have become friends with the photographer.Among them, there’s a taxi driver who operates illegally and “spends his mornings in front of the station trying to get customers”, described Berretta. “He only told me his story years after I met him, and over time he even helped me take shots of some reluctant people by offering them to pay for a cup of coffee out of his own pocket.”
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Berretta has now extended the project to Garibaldi Station in Naples, where he says he’s having much more success – out of the 14 people he stopped his first time, 13 agreed. But despite the frequent rejections, the project at Termini station is still ongoing. You can follow the chaotic energy on the project’s Instagram page.Scroll down to see more photos from the book:
A guy with a mullet outside the station.
A woman leaning against one of the station's glass walls.
A young man poses with his dad.
A woman clutches her pearls.
A glamorous couple.
The owner of a fast food restaurant at the station.
A homeless man standing outside the station.
A couple pose in front of a station gift shop.
A stylish woman outside the station.
A man and his luggage.
A guy with baloons.
A woman outside the station.