The dream of nature: Nature photography by Giancarlo Mancori

The variegated story in pictures was created by a photographer who lent his creativity to the service of science and nature: Giancarlo Mancori. Born in Rome on 18 September 1937, he approached photography as a young boy, when he entered into the "workshop" of the master Cesare Picca, one of the most famous commercial photographers in Rome. His interest in nature was already clear: "When I was a boy I lived in the Roman district of Testaccio, and I played on the banks of the Tiber with various types of lizards, butterflies, and birds, and I started photographing them, so as to keep at least their image with me."

For years he collaborated with LNF Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, dedicating himself to techniques of scientific photography, and in parallel, to aerial and industrial photography. In 1970, he became director for the international image of Massey-Ferguson, a manufacturer of earth-moving machinery. An assignment that allowed him to travel the world, starting off his itinerary in nature photography. In 1978 he met Fulco Pratesi, with whom he published a volume and organized a traveling exhibition on Barbarano Romano.

He collaborated with WWF Italia and with LIPU, setting up numerous exhibitions featuring Italy's heritage of flora, fauna, and landscape. In 2012 he made a large permanent exhibition for the entrance to Rome's Museo Zoologico and, in 2016, the traveling exhibition on the Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise. Mancori dialoged with nature, with the biodiversity of the environment, focusing attention on faunal heritage and its protection. Each photo has a story to tell: the meeting with the wolf in the national park, which almost indicated the way for him to follow; the bear in search of food; the beauty of the fox, so attentively observing its surroundings; the majesty of the Monte Marsicano.

The Mancori's digital archive, conserving some 20,000 photographs, demonstrates that iconographic documentation is not only an instrument of artistry, but can promote knowledge as well, and deeper understanding of a territory, offering a means of raising awareness for protection of a heritage increasingly at risk.