Gabriele Basilico - Milano ritratti di fabbriche - 1981

Rare and highly desirable first edition of Milano. Ritratti di fabbriche, published in 1981 by Sugarco Editore. This early and influential work marks a pivotal moment in the career of Gabriele Basilico (1944–2013), one of the most renowned Italian photographers of the late 20th and early 21st century, internationally celebrated for his meticulous and contemplative urban and architectural photography.
Milano. Ritratti di fabbriche is considered a milestone in the history of Italian documentary and industrial photography. Created at the beginning of the 1980s, the work captures Milan during a period of profound change—an era in which industrial districts, once thriving symbols of economic power, were becoming silent and increasingly marginal urban landscapes.
Basilico’s black-and-white photographs reveal these spaces with extraordinary clarity and precision. His rigorous visual language—characterized by frontal compositions, balanced perspective, and an almost meditative stillness—transforms factories, warehouses, and industrial peripheries into architectural portraits, highlighting both their monumental qualities and their fragility in a shifting urban context.
One of the key features of this first edition is the inclusion of the original fold-out map at the end of the volume. This map identifies the exact locations of the sites photographed by Basilico throughout Milan. It serves not only as a documentary tool but also as a valuable resource for understanding the urban geography of the city’s industrial era. Many of these locations have since been demolished or radically transformed, making the map an essential historical reference.
Published by Sugarco, a small but influential Milanese publisher active in the cultural and photographic scene of the time, this book stands among the earliest monographs dedicated to Basilico. It predates his later internationally acclaimed projects—such as Porti di Mare, Beirut, Berlin, and Milano. Cronache dell’abitare—and clearly displays the conceptual foundations that would define his lifelong exploration of the built environment.
Because of its early date, limited print run, and historical value, the 1981 edition has become increasingly scarce and is now considered a reference title for collectors of Italian photography and modern urban studies.