Udine’s Museo Etnografico is housed in Palazzo Giacomelli, a building which dates back to the 16th century. The building takes its name from its last owner Sante Giacomelli who bought it in 1900.

Palazzo Giacomelli underwent some reconstruction at the end of the nineteenth century, like the façade with false red bricks, decorated with festoons, masks and geometric patterns and the interior decoration in the central hall, whose ceiling is painted with the allegorical subject of Europe and Africa, reference to the opening of the Suez Canal.

I confess here that I had no idea what a “Ethnographic Museum” was all about. I found that an Ethnographic Museum has the task of collecting, conserving and enhancing the demo – ethno – anthropological evidence of the territory it represents, creating a center of culture and research.

My pictures are a testimony of such research for the Friuli Venezia Giulia region.

However, I visited the museum on an invitation from my friend Livia Commandini, a retired architect with a a passion for photography and travel.

She recently had a show about “Women of Gujarat“, Gujarat is a state in Western India and Northwest India. Livia portrayed the women of this flourishing state with cultural diversity. Vibrant images and portraits of the women with their true colors of rich heritage and cultural traditions.

One image was chosen also as a cover for an upcoming book.

I wished Livia many more travels, and perhaps another exposition dedicated to women. Women of the world.