TITLE: Night of Europe

Most Romans, even, don't know this happens. In the night between the 30th and the 31st of May, from about 1 to 4am, thousands of members of the Italian armed forces marched through the deserted centre of the city, by the Roman forum and the Colosseum.They were rehearsing the military parade of June 2, Italy’s Republic Day.
It happens every year. But this year the feel was different. It was impossible ' seeing the armies marching through the night ' not to think about the war in Europe, the popular votes shifting to populism and right-wing ideals. Places have a memory of long and difficult histories. The Colosseum has seen the Roman armies come back, victorious or bloodied and defeated. It also saw the Fascist regime taking over with the Marcia su Roma. And twenty years later, their defeated armies run away. Impossible not to think that we - in this lucky part of the world - may have been giving too many things - like freedom and peace - for granted and given for too long.

AUTHOR: Antonio Denti (Italy)

Antonio Denti is an award-winning news cameraman, in love with still photography.

Born in Catania (Sicily) in 1972, he graduated as a social anthropologist at the University of London ( Goldsmiths' College and SOAS - School of Oriental and African Studies - ) but became a cameraman.

He has been working for Reuters since 1998.

He covered conflict and change in Kosovo (1999, 2001, 2008), Afghanistan (2001), Iraq (2003), Israel (2005 - 2006), Gaza (2005), Lebanon (2006), Tunisia (2011), the death of Pope John Paul II, the election of Pope Benedict XVI, his resignations and the election of Pope Francis, the Tsunami of 2004 in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, eruptions of mount Etna, earthquakes in central and northern Italy, the migrant crises in the Mediterranean (2006, 2011, 2015-2019) and in the Balkans (2015), the crisis around Catalonia's bid for independence (2017), the Covid-19 pandemics (2020), Pope Francis' pilgrimage to Iraq (2021).

In 2018, he won the RTS (Royal Television Society) Journalism Award for Camera Operator of the Year.

In 2019, he won the ''Maria Grazia Cutuli'' international journalism award (national section).