Aperitivo Milano

Thinking of all our friends in Milan. Hope to have Aperitivo with you soon.

When shooting in Milan in November 2019 we were heading to Chiesa San Francesco d'Assisi al Fopponino, a church designed by Gio Ponti and spotted this fantastic relief Campari sign on the way. As a photographer known for photographing signs around the world this was a perfect addition to my collection, A Short History of Milan. I stopped to photograph it amongst the bustle of morning rush hour traffic and chasing the moving sunlight. When I saw the negatives of the first shoot I liked them but I wasn't sure the light was quite right so I returned to the spot in February 2020. It was earlier in the day and so I had more sunlight to play with. With urban street photography there is very little you can control about your environment with constant people and vehicles and so it was very a complicated photograph to execute. I took my time and I am pleased with the results, what you see here is just from my contact sheets so I am looking forward to going into the darkroom to make prints of it.

Bottiglieria Bulloni opened in 1933 and the signs are original, as are the interior shelves, tiles and light fixtures which were the work of Futerist designer Enrico Prampolini. Campari originated in 1860 in Novara and grew to the global brand from a caffe in Milan. This article in the Difford's Guide is a perfect explanation of the history of Campari.

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