A SPECIALTY · Italy, Portugal, Europe
Portraits made in the places time forgot.
Cinematic portrait sessions inside derelict palaces, faded interiors and forgotten estates. A session that doesn't look like anyone else's.THE MANIFESTO
A CURATED TRIP, NOT A BACKDROP.
There is a kind of portrait that doesn't happen in studios, on Lisbon's blue-hour streets, or against the cinematic backdrop of Sintra's hills. It happens inside the buildings most people drive past without seeing — derelict villas in the Sintra range, faded estates along the Cilento coast, forgotten interiors the country has quietly let go of and that almost nobody knows are still standing.
I've been mapping those buildings for ten years. The archive now contains more than two hundred pinned locations across Italy, Portugal, France and Slovenia. About sixty are places I would actively bring a client to. The rest are too risky structurally, too compromised aesthetically, or too sensitive to share without first checking with the owners.
What I'm offering isn't a backdrop choice. It's a curated trip — a session that runs differently from a standard portrait shoot because it has to. We pick a location based on your brief, not the other way around. I plan the access, the weather window, the timing for the right light.
We arrive together. We shoot for two to four hours inside a place that has been left alone for decades. You leave with a portrait that looks like a still from a film someone hasn't made yet.SELECTED PORTRAITS
the places
HOW IT WORKS
Four steps, planned carefully.
01 - BRIEF
We talk about the feeling.You tell me what you want the portrait to feel like — quiet, theatrical, dark, dreamlike, autumnal. I match the brief to one or two candidate locations from the archive.02 - PLAN
I plan the trip.A week before the shoot I drive to the location, verify access, and check the light at the hour we'll be there. Weather windows matter; I'll move the date if the forecast is wrong.03 - shoot
We arrive together.A short drive from the parking point. Two to four hours inside the building, with time at the start for you to feel the space before we make the first frame.04 - DELIVER
You get the gallery.A private online gallery within 14–20 days. Previews within 48 hours. Final retouched files at full resolution. The location stays off the metadata.“He is a wonderful person and a wonderful photographer – ensuring awesome shots all around the building, helping to interpret the scene and the mood of the place – and he is good at making his guests feel comfortable even among dust and rubble. These photos are stories, they are art.”
“A unique experience, curated by Mario, who took time researching and eventually selecting these magical locations, suspended in time. … Definitely a must do if you are looking for an experience off the beaten track.”
“I arrived to the location very anxious and I communicated that to Mario. He was very kind and patient. … I felt safe and was able to calm my nerves enough to really enjoy the location and experience.”
WHERE & HOW
ON GEOGRAPHY AND DISCRETION.
Lost-place sessions are available across Italy, Portugal, France and Slovenia.I plan the entire trip — location, access, light, logistics — and I don't share the addresses, ever. The locations I work in are alive partly because they're discreet. I name the region at most, never the property. The map is mine; what you receive is the portraits.
FROM THE JOURNAL
Castel Sandra, a hotel built for a daughter, taken by a camorra clan, abandoned by the state, photographed every year for the last ten.
The longest-running thread in this practice is a single building on the Cilento coast in southern Italy. I've been visiting it every year since 2015.
It's also the closest thing I have to a personal manifesto on this kind of work.
Read it before you book, if you want to understand how I think about these places.
COMMON QUESTIONS
BEFORE YOU BOOK.
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Yes. The locations I work in are vetted for structural safety before any client visit. We don't enter spaces I haven't already scouted personally. I bring a basic toolkit for clearing debris where needed and I know which rooms in each property are off-limits.
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Most of the locations I bring clients to, I enter with the owner's permission — people I've known for years, who let me in. A few have been left without a traceable owner for decades, and there's no one to ask. Before you book, I tell you which kind of place I'm proposing, so the choice is always yours, with all the information.
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A few, and they aren't negotiable. Nothing is forced, nothing is broken, nothing is taken. If anything is damaged, or if behavior on set puts either of us at risk — legally or physically — the session ends there, without a refund. I say this before every booking, and it's written in the terms.
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I don't share that. The archive stays private to protect the places themselves — lost places die quickly once they become known. You'll see the location when we arrive together; you won't see it in any caption, post, or geotag.
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Yes — a friend, a partner, an assistant. Usually one additional person works comfortably. Larger groups need a conversation about whether the location can accommodate them.
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We talk about this in the brief stage. Lost places have specific palettes — neutral, warm, slightly out-of-time tones tend to work; costume-y or modern bright colors usually fight the location. I'll send a mood board before the shoot if helpful.
Ready when you are
plan a “lost place” session.
Tell me what you want the portrait to feel like. I'll match the brief to a location, plan the trip, and reply within 48 hours.