THE STORY OF THE MELTING OF ITALY’S LARGEST GLACIER
During the course of the year, the Lares glacier changes its appearance and sound. A disturbing alteration that’s visible to the naked eye. The third-largest formation in the Adamello group (the largest glacier in Italy), which descends to an elevation of 2,600 meters, is retreating at a tremendous rate, creating a pre-apocalyptic scene and a contradictory sensory experience in which beauty and distress, grandeur and desolation alternate. This spectacle has been exacerbated by the temperature surges recorded beginning in 2022, leading the Lares glacier to withdraw further from the accumulation zone.
Today, the glacier is dirty from debris and greenhouse gases that deposit on its surface — without icebergs and with only winter and spring snowfall to keep it alive. The suffering of the Lares can also be perceived through the groaning and rumbling of the sinkholes, which crumble as they slide, emitting terrible, deafening noises, almost as if they were calling for help as they fall.
Paolo first explored the outdoor world on the Adamello glacier when he was a boy, but his profession as a photographer then took him away from the environment that made him fall in love with the mountains. When he returned to what he calls his second home, he was moved by the sight of the glacier. He couldn’t imagine that he was looking at the same formation, and he couldn’t believe that the change had reached such extreme levels.
It was during a climb in the summer of 2022 that Paolo recognized the urgency of describing the retreat of the Lares glacier through a raw, direct sensory experience.
In recent months, together with his friend and colleague Stefano, he created “The Song of the Ice,” a project that aims to tell the story of the melting of the Lares by means of a documentary, through time-lapses, many video and audio recordings; dissemination, through public meetings and photographic exhibitions; and a sensory encounter, through a traveling installation that allows people to immerse themselves in the experience of the melting of the glacier.
Through the “Help the Mountains program, we decided to support “The Song of the Ice” to increase awareness of the topic and preserve the memory of a glacier that in a few decades we will no longer be able to explore.
