Leveraging on a lasting friendship and commonality of views, Marco Crupi and I traveled to La Habana in March 2016 to trace the enduring sentiments of the Cuban Revolution, its motives and its legacy, 58 years after its resounding triumph.

This is our unambitious account from the streets of La Habana: a recollection of the time spent with more or less ordinary Cubans, pacing their streets, eating, drinking and smoking in their company, playing baseball or domino, listening equally avidly to gossip, opinions, hopes or life stories.

We strive to convey our impressions unadulterated by romantic ideas and preconceptions, in an attempt to immortalise people, places and events, portraying the state and bottling the zeitgeist of contemporary Cuba.

If, in Fidel’s words, ‘writing is a way of being useful’, then the text endeavours to complement the photos by providing context and inducing one to reflect on the salient issues of a country in deep historical transition.

Text by Tommaso Ragonese