Through the Lens of Letizia Cigliutti: The Elegance of the Ordinary in Monforte d’Alba

In the hilltop town of Monforte d’Alba in Piemonte’s Langhe region, one of the most important moments of the week is Sunday morning. Sunlight steeps the rooftops, and stovetop caffetiere whistle with the promise of breakfast after mass. Letizia Cigliutti is standing near Beata Vergine della Neve, the town’s primary church, watching. She’s not looking for anything in particular, she is just watching. A fuchsia blazer approaching the church catches her eye. With her camera in hand, the photographer darts over to the Monforte local and introduces herself, asking permission to take the woman’s picture. In a town like Monforte where a (tight) tight-knit community lives by a comfortable rhythm and routine from one day to the next, these spontaneous exchanges are just as delightful for locals as they are for Letizia.

“I think photography for me is more like poetry than fact. It’s a feeling. There’s no formula to my approach, I let it happen organically, in the moment. I don’t have a goal to create a specific style with my work. I prefer to follow the flow,” she says.

Langhe, Letizia Cigliutti

For Letizia, this “poetry”, it seems, is found in the everyday. Rows of handmade ravioli del plin huddled on a golden tray, the sheen of nonno’s brown leather loafer on concrete warmed by the midday sun. She refers to these things as “the elegance of the ordinary,” which seems to be heightened in these intimate Italian towns where time takes on a different quality, and life moves at its own glorious pace.

Letizia’s encounters with Monforte, its people, and its moments of “everyday magic” are indeed hard to articulate in words. But her lens, on the other hand, captures a lifetime of nuances, stories, and traditions in a single frame. Whether it’s the group of men–childhood friends–who meet every morning at the local bar for a game, or three, of cards, or the blue and red font on the plastic shopping bag from the town’s Market Roddolo, Letizia’s photographs reveal her fascination with Monforte, and the broader Langhe region, as an endless source of creative inspiration.

Since moving to Monforte (a town of roughly 2,000 residents) at the start of this year, it’s more than likely Letizia has been asked, more than once: Come mai sei qui? (Why are you here?) It’s a fair question, although she is certainly no stranger to the area. Originally from Cossano Belbo, an even smaller town in Langhe, she grew up with Piemonte’s fresh air in her lungs; running through vineyards until sunset, devouring fistfuls of fresh nocciole, and finding joy in the simplest, most natural moments.

But the answer to the question is love, actually. After a long period of living and working abroad, the photographer returned to Italy, making her base in Monforte with her New Zealand partner who has been running his own wine label on its undulating hills since 2020 (Monforte is one of the most desirable locations in Italy for wine production). While Letizia still considers herself “new” to the town, it’s obvious from her photographs that she has developed a deep connection to the town and its people in less than a year. Even though she continues to work and travel internationally as her career flourishes outside Italy, Monforte, her base, has captured her heart.

Langhe: Barolo; Photography by Letizia Cigliutti

“I think Monforte is quite a unique town in Langhe compared to the others, because there’s a really strong sense of community here. Sure, the locals might not be overly receptive to foreigners coming in, but there’s this kind of energy and community spirit between the people that is beautiful to observe. The bar owner is friends with the supermarket owner, then they meet with their friend, a local mechanic, and they all go for a coffee,” says Letizia, who was delighted when the wife of Monforte’s mechanic gifted her a jacket that didn’t fit anymore.

What happens when Letizia, an exuberant young photographer with a worldly sense of curiosity, returns to the sanctuary of her native Langhe region? She begins to notice an intriguing generational contrast; a contrast between past and future, between tradition and innovation, between the familiar and the foreign. Monforte is evolving. This evolution is both physical and ideological, thanks (or not, depending who you ask) to an enterprising new generation of winemakers, artisans, and producers who are moving there to realise their dreams on its fertile landscape. Some of them are stranieri from far and wide, like Letizia’s partner.

From a creative and cultural perspective, this evolution in the town’s atmosphere and demographic is nothing short of intriguing for the photographer. It has inspired her to start capturing these striking multi-generational contrasts in the faces, projects, and surroundings of her subjects. But not all generations are smiling. “Change” is a bad word in a place like Monforte, no? Doesn’t change mean the end of tradition?

“I’m fascinated by the stories of previous generations who lived and worked on the land in Langhe–like my grandfather–who told me about the war and how winemakers were doing their job before this area was well-known across the world. The history and tradition of the region is what defines it, and of course, will continue to do so,” she says.

“But you can’t overlook the fact that a lot of foreign people from all over the world fall in love with our area when they visit, and their presence brings a new dynamic to towns like Monforte. I’m always fascinated by their stories and experiences, because they can make us see the land and the region in new ways we didn’t consider before. For me this is really important.”

Photography by Letizia Cigliutti

As Letizia’s more recent photographic series shot in Monforte reveal, there is an undeniable magic that is created when tradition and innovation coexist; when stories and knowledge are shared from one generation to the next for the shared benefit of the land and its people, young and old. One photo captures a young duo from Torino who recently bought a winery in Monforte.

They are discovering, with great joy, what happens when they reinterpret centuries-old winemaking methods and traditions with their own contemporary flair. Another image in this series is a nonna and friends fussing about a timber bench on ravioli making day, discovering, with great joy, that the consistency of their pasta dough is no less perfect than it was when they started making it decades ago. There will always be a need for tradition; tradition is identity and knowledge, and, in a world in a constant state of flux, tradition is one of the few things that gives people a sense of comfort and belonging. But, inherently, life is change. Letizia captures the poetry of this contrast, telling stories about the past, present, and future of the territory and its generations with candid simplicity.

Her Monforte is the real Monforte, and, as she seems to tell us in each of her images, its splendour can be observed everywhere by those who simply look for it.

“In my reportage, I want to show Monforte as a true representation of Piemonte. I want to capture what I love about the region, the things that are not necessarily ‘famous’ about it. I grew up on this land, and it’s always the simple things that inspire me; watching the vineyards change colour from green to yellow to orange in autumn, and the feeling of the very early but very warm morning sun on your shoulder.”