From May 7 to June 28, 2026, Spazio Messina at Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan will host SACRED BREAD – Le vie del pane, a photography exhibition by Stefano Torrione, produced by Fabbrica del Vapore – Comune di Milano and Massimo Pozzi Chiesa with Sinergia Venture. It is a grand journey in images crossing geographies, cultures, and millennia of history in search of humanity’s most ancient breads—those still prepared today according to age-old codes.
Photographer and ethnographer Stefano Torrione embarked on this journey inspired by reading Predrag Matvejević’s book Pane Nostro. For over six years, he followed what he himself calls “the great wandering of bread,” immersing himself in the deep heart of Mediterranean civilizations where bread continues to live in the oldest traditions, in gestures passed down from generation to generation, in daily rituals, and in popular festivities.
Gabriel Bauret, in the critical text accompanying the exhibition, writes: “For a photographer who has built much of his work on travel and moves with familiarity through very different cultures, exploring the tradition of bread and the territories that concern it is a natural choice.”
On the occasion of the exhibition’s opening, Saturday, May 9 at 6:00 PM, actor and writer Giuseppe Cederna will perform a monologue titled “Il Pane nostro di Stefano Torrione. A journey, a work of art, a gesture of peace and Mediterranean hope.” Cederna writes: “Ancient wisdom teaches that the Mediterranean reaches as far as the olive tree grows. Along the coasts of the Mediterranean ran the Silk Road, intersecting the routes of salt and spices, amber and incense. Of wisdom and knowledge. The Mediterranean is the sea of closeness. It is the Acropolis of Athens, the Odyssey, the sacred bread of Matvejević and Stefano Torrione. It is the island of the film Mediterraneo, Kastellorizo: ‘Italians and Greeks, one face, one race.’ For many years, from island to island, the Mediterranean has continued to call me. Recently it gave me a story I will never forget.” Admission is free until seats are filled.
SACRED BREAD displays 77 black-and-white photographs through which Stefano Torrione guides visitors on a circular itinerary of sixteen stages around the Mediterranean basin, retracing the ancestral routes of bread: from Mesopotamia to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, from the Horn of Africa to Algeria and the mountains of Morocco, from Spain to France, and into Italy. The journey continues through Sarajevo, the Greece of Mount Athos, and reaches Konya—the ancient city in Turkey where the world’s oldest bread was discovered.
Three of the sixteen stages are located in Italy: Sardinia, Sicily, and Puglia, where Sacred Bread takes on a central role—not only for their geographical position in the heart of the Mediterranean but also for their historic role as crossroads of civilizations, traditions, and cultures that have crossed and shaped this sea over the centuries. Ritual breads in all these cultures tell an extraordinary heritage made of religious celebrations, symbols, and ancient artisanal knowledge, where bread has always been much more than food.
Bread is a universal symbol of life, faith, and sharing: born from a simple mixture of water and flour and transformed by fire, it has been humanity’s primary nourishment for millennia, but it is also a metaphor for existence, representing work, effort, generosity, and reward. In the three great monotheistic religions, bread takes on a deeply sacred dimension. It is consecrated in the Talmud for Judaism, in the Bible for Christian and Orthodox faiths, and is mentioned in the Quran for Islam, becoming a spiritual bridge between humanity and the divine. It is in the basin of the Mare Nostrum—where the first grain was sown millennia ago—that this culture continues to live every day: here, Sacred Bread preserves on its crust the marks of history, and photographing it is like portraying and restoring Humanity itself.
The project SACRED BREAD – Le vie del pane belongs to the great tradition of Humanist Photography, inspired by the vision of authors such as Larry Towell and Abbas. It is an epic narrative crossing peoples and territories, restoring value to that intangible heritage that often remains hidden in the shadow of modernity and deserves to be brought back to light.
For Stefano Torrione, walking “the road of bread” is a true mission, driven by a deep passion and an almost ritual spirit. The photographer shares what Erri De Luca writes in the afterword of Pane Nostro: “Bread is a peace treaty.” In this perspective, SACRED BREAD also becomes an invitation to reflect on the conflicts of our time, reminding us of what unites cultures more than what divides them.
The exhibition is accompanied by a book published by MI-HUB SRL, which will also serve as the communication partner. Another key logistics partner is Italmondo Spa, which will handle the transport of works and installations, together with Roberto Berné, who curated the fine art printing of the photographs. Finally, Artistinct, an ecosystem in the artistic and cultural field specializing in IT development, media partnerships, dissemination, sales, and 360° artist management, will provide technical and technological support for the exhibition.
Photo credits: © Stefano Torrione
Leave a Reply