Federica Trovato
LOCATION: ASPROMONTE NATIONAL PARK, CALABRIA, ITALY
DATE: AUGUST 2021
PHOTOGRAPHER: STEVE MCCURRY
Aspromonte used to be a special place for Federica Trovato. In her childhood, and more recently as a veterinary student, she’d use it as a peaceful, natural escape from the everyday. This year, all of that changed. Italy roasted in a 48+ degree heatwave, the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe. These record temperatures helped fuel extreme wildfires in the vast national park that contains an area of centuries-old beech trees and was declared this year as a UNESCO world heritage site. The fires decimated land, animal life and generations of family farming. This is the alarming reality of the climate crisis.