Polizia di Stato in Piazza di Sant' Egidio (2008) Photography by Alessandro Lisci

Safe Rome, the invisible photographer Report of the nocturnal reportage carried out in Rome over the course of four nights between October 30 and December 8, 2008 among the principals of the law enforcement agencies. 4.30 to 6.00, the one notoriously suitable for carrying out attacks, I have documented how carabinieri, state police and traffic police in charge of the surveillance of targets considered sensitive, carry out their delicate task while sleeping or at best watching movies on the computer video. Below is the chronicle of this service, which was not produced digitally but in slides. Thursday 30 October - At 5.30 am, passing through Trastevere, I notice that the guards at the headquarters of the Sant'Egidio community, who were launched a death fatwa by a group of Islamic fundamentalists and who was to welcome George Bush to visit in the summer of 2007, they sleep deeply inside their steering wheel in the homonymous square. So I run into the house to take the camera, the tripod, the flexible shutter and be able to capture this moment. Back in piazza di Sant'Egidio, while the agents continue to sleep, I mount the camera on the tripod so that I can take advantage of the street lighting and take clear photographs from multiple positions without flash, taking up to 30 seconds for a single photo. I act undisturbed for as long as necessary, that is at least 7 minutes, under the gaze of the cameras and at a very short distance from the agents. - It is almost 6.00 in the morning when in Piazza di Monte Savello, at the corner of Via del Portico d'Ottavia, a photographer, undisturbed and a few meters away, the deep sleep of a carabiniere and the distraction of a colleague reading a book on board of the gazelle that should guard the Jewish Temple from the south side. Wednesday 3 December - Around 4.30 am I go out for a reconnaissance by bicycle and I am surprised in front of the Senate of the Republic a carabiniere glued to watch a film on the PC monitor supplied in the booth in via della Dogana Vecchia at the corner of Piazza di San'Eustachio. Once again, under the gaze of the cameras that are widespread here, I act undisturbed in patrolling the area in search of a good point from where the agent can film from a short distance. The photographic equipment is secured with rubber bands to the skeleton of my mountain bike. - Shortly after I am in the historic square of the Trevi fountain where, in front of the fountain and at the corner with via di San Vincenzo, a patrol of the traffic police is stationed as usual. passenger compartment of the service car. I photograph them from two different positions, unhurriedly placing my equipment in the middle of the road and a short distance from the patrol. Not even a bum wakes them up when he kicks a bottle as he passes. Thursday 4 December - It is the turn of a carabiniere who resumes sleeping in his booth in via del Tempio at the corner of via Catalana, east side of the Jewish Temple, placing my equipment undisturbed on the sidewalk not far away. At that moment, an Ama pickup truck passes by but does not distract the carabiniere from the world of dreams. - I rush, still by bicycle, to Piazza della Rotonda al Pantheon to immortalize another crew of the traffic police escorting the precious monument that sleeps soundly with the seats folded down at the corner with the Salita de 'Crescenzi. -So I walk in front of the Senate and I catch two carabinieri who, inside their booth in Largo Giuseppe Toniolo, are intent on seeing a film. Monday 8 December I immortalize it with the lens of my reflex: -a police crew sleeping on board the steering wheel while "protecting", in Largo Chigi, the presidency of the Council of Ministers; - a sleeping couple of PS agents during the usual shift in piazza di Sant'Egidio, - a chosen carabiniere who sleeps sitting with his head resting on one arm inside the booth in via del Quirinale corner via della Consulta, from where he should supervise the residence of the President of the Republic. It is now almost six in the morning but the carabiniere is not in the least disturbed by the flashing lights and the roar of the cars that begin to flow past him. The only annoyed, however, is me, because of the backlight that force me to repeat the fateful shot several times. The hunt is over. Alessandro Lisci

Related themes

Polizia Di StatoCarabinieriVigili UrbaniPresidioSicurezza