Raffaele Montepaone | The Sun Magazine

Raffaele Montepaone

Raffaele Montepaone’s photos have been exhibited throughout Italy and France. He lives in Vibo Valentia, Italy.

— From August 2018
Photography

A Long Life

The rural people of Calabria, in southern Italy, live an unusually long time. The average global lifespan is about seventy-two years, but the residents of this sunny, mountainous peninsula often live into their nineties and beyond — and they suffer less from ailments like dementia and heart disease that typically affect the elderly.

August 2018
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August 2018

Liberata, who lives in the Italian province of Vibo Valentia, holds a photo of herself as a young woman.

August 2018

Angela, who lives in the village of Stefanaconi, braids her hair as she has done almost daily since she was a child.

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August 2018

An unidentified woman outside a church in the village of Jonadi. She told the photographer that everyone’s life is in God’s hands.

August 2018

An unidentified woman in the village of Sant’Onofrio. Courtesy of Alidem Gallery Milano.

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August 2018

One of the last remaining residents of the village of Staiti, Caterina smokes more than three packs of cigarettes a day.

August 2018

As she prepares to go to sleep, Maria Antonietta, who lives in the village of Briatico, tells the photographer about her husband, who is waiting for her in heaven.

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August 2018

The hands of a woman known to all in the village of Stilo as Aunt Concetta.

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