Il Palazzo Guglielmi: Moments of Elegance and Grace

Palazzo Guglielmi sits on Isola Maggiore in Lago Trasimeno in Umbria in Central Italy. This 180 room structure was originally built in 1328 as a monastery to honor Saint Francis of Assisi's 40 day stay during Lent of 1211. In the 1800's, after serving over 500 years as a monastery, the property was purchased by the influential Senator Guglielmi. From the monastery he created a palazzo worthy of his rank and station. In the 1960's, due to Italy's shifting circumstances, the Guglielmi family vacated the palazzo. For over 30 years this once grand structure sat abandoned and decaying.

In 2003 I was given the opportunity to photograph in Palazzo Guglielmi. Profoundly moved by its poignant beauty, I found countless quiescent details and fragments of so many years and lives. Moving from room to room was like entering one heartrending yet serene dream after another. The images are a meditation on the negotiation of light and shadow, memory and loss, and the simultaneous existence of past and present.