Armando, la Furia del Quadraro

Fabio Fasiello’s Armando, his first book, is an investigation of the human being, the social context and the role that a single character or a place can have within the community. The context in which the project develops is the popular gym of the Quadraro Boxe in the southern suburbs of Rome; the protagonist of its history is the boxer Armando Casamonica. The popular gym Quadraro Boxe was born in a neighborhood full of contradictions, both geographical and human. It is the largest and most densely populated district of Rome: a city in the city. The large number of inhabitants leads to a kaleidoscopic alternation of humans that many times tend to get lost scattered around the neighborhood: getting lost in the streets without ever finding themselves, or in themselves, or in the myriad of popular buildings in the area. The Quadraro Boxe was born from this idea of getting lost, it was founded in 2009 by the occupation of a garage that had been abandoned for more than forty-five years. From that moment it has become a real place within a place. By definition, it sets itself the idea of regenerating, redeveloping, not only the place itself but the entire neighborhood. In the kaleidoscopic game of human beings the Boxing Quadraro becomes a symbol and a reference point by creating an alternative to those who had never had an alternative until then. So this idea continues to intertwine even inside the gym, through the characters that make it up. Among these the most emblematic in summing up the dichotomies of the neighborhood and the gym is undoubtedly Armando Casamonica; the surname is heavy, resonates and creates a historical echo that is dispersed as a leopard spot in the Roman chronicle. But the surname is an inheritance, something from which you can not detach but that you can definitely retrain, a burden that often brings discrimination, isolation, anxiety. For Armando it is a battle in the battle. Trying to prove that you are not just a label and trying to show what you really are: a professional boxer. When you embrace this kind of professional dedication, perseverance will merge with your own self. For a boxer it is important to conquer every inch of the ring, fight until the last second of a workout, stay focused and alert until the last moment of the day. A life based on sacrifice, which many times does not repay. For Armando heavier is the weight of all of this: he took with him all the dichotomies, contrasts, prejudices in every moment of his life, but also in the ring where he proved to be not just a label, not just a surname. He persevered until the last clink of the gong to prove it, until the last minute of a workout, until the last street of the Quadraro.

Fabio Fasiello was born in 1995 in Salento, Apulia, from a family of merchants. As a little boy he starts to learn about the world of photography and falls in love with it. In his college years he moved to Rome to study Languages and Modern Literature at the University of Tor Vergata where he graduates in 2019. Fabio’s literature background flows and blends in his photography world creating a unique universe influenced by the Roman microcosm and the Salento sub-culture.

During the pandemic period in Italy he successfully catalyzes his own kaleidoscopic world and presents his first story: Lock Down. In this artwork he questions himself on social introspection in a new and unexplored context. From here, Fabio shifts his attention to the human being and his daily life which creates a new focus of his photography. In May 2020 he participated in the “Canon Giovani” contest with a short story, Relics, which shows the differences between the world before and after the Italian lock down. Then he comes back to Apulia where he starts his first mid-term project, Origins, which tells about his childhood roots in the south of Italy.

Hardcover, 21 x 32 cm, 80 pages  |  Drago Publisher  |  isbn: 978-8898565504

Designed and made by Nicola Veccia Scavalli