Through October 5, 2025, the sea and the shore — eternal symbols of freedom and escape — become the stage for a striking new exhibition: Mare Magnum: From Ferdinando Scianna to Martin Parr. Magnum Photographers and the Beach. Hosted at the historic Villa Mussolini in Riccione, the exhibition invites visitors on a visual journey through the many facets of beach life.
Curated by Andréa Holzherr, international curator and Global Exhibitions Director at Magnum Photos, the show features the work of eight renowned photographers from the prestigious Magnum agency: Ferdinando Scianna, Bruno Barbey, Bruce Gilden, Harry Gruyaert, Trent Parke, Olivia Arthur, Newsha Tavakolian, and Martin Parr.
Through their lenses, the beach becomes a microcosm of humanity — a space where joy and playfulness coexist with solitude and introspection. Spanning cultures, decades, and continents, Mare Magnum presents the seaside as a universal landscape for both personal and collective experience. Whether portraying sun-drenched leisure or moments of quiet detachment, these photographs reveal the rich contradictions of life along the shore.
Riccione, a city with a deep-rooted relationship with the sea, has in recent years hosted exhibitions by some of the world’s most celebrated photographers. With Mare Magnum, it becomes a cultural crossroads — a place where distant shores meet the Adriatic coastline, and global visions intertwine with local identity. In this dialogue, the beaches captured by Magnum’s masters echo the memory and rhythm of a city deeply shaped by its maritime heritage.
A special section of the exhibition is dedicated to a powerful series created by Ferdinando Scianna in Riccione in 1989. These black-and-white photographs — intimate and timeless — weave together bodies, emotions, and landscapes, offering a rare and authentic glimpse into beach life on the Italian Riviera.
Far from simply celebrating summer, Mare Magnum explores the beach as a complex arena of visual storytelling — where the everyday becomes poetic, and the ephemeral gains permanence. Whether in color or black and white, these images convey humor, contradiction, nostalgia, and the raw beauty of nature, reminding us that the shoreline is not just a destination, but a canvas for human experience.

Mare Magnum: From Ferdinando Scianna to Martin Parr: Magnum Photographers and the Beach
Through October 5, 2025
Villa Mussolini – Riccione – Italy