Fifty-two-year-old Milanese artist Gabriele Basilico is considered by many to be one of the most significant Italian photographers working today. In his photographs of cities, factories, and peripheral urban areas—ports, for example—the absence of people is so palpable that it translates into an unavoidable presence. Basilico’s investigations of place are always directed to the urban landscape, to man’s production, to the places where people live rather than to the experience of living. While the images could be viewed as nostalgic, or as a critique of the urban condition, behind every click of