Castelfiorentino Art Prize · Contemporary Photography
Raccont’arti 2026:
the winners.
Angelo Vignali, Rituale — Open
Karina Bargan, Forma Destinului — Student
Theme: Beyond the visible: the image of absence
Emerging from the experience of his father’s death, Rituale explores how loss can be given form through simple, repeated gestures. Angelo Vignali uses objects that belonged to his father in a series of performances: through these actions, the objects are transformed and take on new meanings.
Moving between an intimate diary and a shared ritual, the project creates a space in which grief can be experienced and memory can become a form of presence.
In Forma Destinului, Karina Bargan explores her family’s Moldovan heritage: an internalised discipline and an authority that, even in its absence, continues to shape space and leave traces on bodies.
Past and present overlap in a suspended landscape, marked by impulses to escape and tensions towards self-erasure. Absence is not a void: it continues to act through gestures, places and memory.
Eight artistic explorations, one exhibition
The finalists
Alongside the winning projects, the exhibition brings together work by the finalists in the Open and Student categories.
Open
- Mattia Balsamini and Raffaele PanizzaStella Inquieta
- Raquel Bravo IglesiasAna M. El Tesoro
- Alice PoyzerOther Joys
- Luuk van RaamsdonkMy Sweet Elora
Student
- Beatrice AielloLight Travels to Reach Us
- Marta Di PietrantonioOrdinary Folks Forever
- Francesca MorelliOn My Bulky Teeth
- Noé ZnidarsicALL CHILDREN GROW UP
Saturday 28 November 2026
See you in Castelfiorentino.
An afternoon dedicated to contemporary photography: conversation, the awards ceremony and an encounter with work by the winners and finalists.
14.30
Catalogue presentation and conversation with Sara Palmieri
CAMBIO Cultural Centre
Presentation of Raccont’Arti 2022–2025 and a conversation with visual artist Sara Palmieri: from the projects in the catalogue to new directions in contemporary photography, explored through her work.
17.00
The awards ceremony
Teatro del Popolo, Castelfiorentino
Presentation of the awards to the winners of the Open and Student categories.
19.00
The exhibition
CAMBIO Cultural Centre
Projects by the two winners and eight finalists, brought together in one exhibition.
28 November 2026 · 14.30 · CAMBIO Cultural Centre
The catalogue
RACCONT’ARTI 2022–2025
Four years of the Castelfiorentino Prize, 40 photographic projects. The work of the Open and Student winners and finalists reveals the diversity of contemporary photography, from documentary practice to artistic experimentation.
The conversation
Where is contemporary photography heading?
With Sara Palmieri, visual artist
Starting with the projects featured in Raccont’Arti 2022–2025, Sara Palmieri opens a discussion on the languages and directions of contemporary photography. The conversation continues through her own projects, exploring her creative process and the relationship between personal research and experimentation.
The jury
Vittore Buzzi
A contemporary photographer and teacher, Vittore Buzzi has received numerous awards, including World Press Photo, the Federchimica Prize, the Province of Milan Prize and the Yann Geffroy Prize. His photographs are held in public and private collections.
Bio
Tommaso Parrillo
Tommaso Parrillo (1989) founded the publishing house Witty Books and, in 2015, co-founded Jest, an exhibition space dedicated to photography. He lives in Turin and works as a publisher, teacher and art director.
Bio
Francesca Catastini
Francesca Catastini holds a master’s degree in Photography and Visual Design from NABA. She has exhibited and presented her work at institutions, fairs and museums internationally. She is currently represented by OstLicht gallery. She has published two books: The Modern Spirit Is Vivisective, winner of the ViennaPhotoBookAward, and Petrus, published by Kehrer Verlag. She lives and works in Vienna.
Michele Palazzi
An artist, photographer and teacher, Michele Palazzi has won a World Press Photo award and the Enzo Baldoni Prize. He is represented by Contrasto agency and teaches in the photography department at RUFA (Rome University of Fine Arts). He has published two artist’s books with Origini Edizioni.
Bio
Chiara Ruberti
I am from Pisa, I am 41, and I have worked in photography since 2008. After six years at Fondazione Alinari in Florence as an assistant on exhibition projects and a coordinator of editorial projects, I began working with Photolux Festival in Lucca in 2014, where I am co-director and coordinator. As a curator, I have worked in independent settings and with institutions and spaces dedicated to photography in Italy.
Sharing my thoughts on photography with students at Accademia Italiana, and helping them develop and cultivate their own way of seeing, is an immensely stimulating adventure.
Franco Spina
Franco Spina (Cosenza, 1992) graduated with honours with a master’s degree in Visual Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts. His artistic practice explores visions and languages rooted in the social fabric, primarily through performance and multimedia, including photography, sound design and visual poetry. These practices reinterpret physical and social dynamics through new technologies and new forms of interactive experience.
Supporting organisations
Ente Cambiano s.c.p.a.
Together with Banca Cambiano 1884, it supports the arts and photography, promotes cultural initiatives and champions the area’s artistic heritage.
Fondazione Teatro del Popolo
It promotes cultural life in Castelfiorentino through theatre, cinema and exhibition spaces, and supports the preservation and promotion of the Fondo David Bastianoni.
Comune di Castelfiorentino
It supports the Prize and promotes an area rich in history, art and culture, crossed by the Via Francigena.
