Davide & Alessia — A Wedding at Villa Mon Repos, Taormina

Some wedding days I remember by their light. This one I remember by its fire.

Davide and Alessia were married at Villa Mon Repos in Taormina, on a July day when Sicily was burning. Wildfires circled the coast, the air was hot wind and glare, and ash fell over the ceremony like confetti — confetti of persistence, of something stronger. And in the middle of it all, an untouchable pocket of peace and joy: the two of them, eyes locked, in love, beautiful.

The words of the celebrant — Pasquale, their friend — moved between the flashes of light and the warm wind, and nobody managed to hold back tears, because their story doesn’t allow it. They met as children, at school. He fell for her at eleven and courted her the way you only can at that age. Then life pulled them apart. When their roads crossed again, this time it was for good.

A wedding in Taormina can easily turn into a set piece: the town is that beautiful, and it knows it. This one stayed a true story, photographed as it happened. That is the only way I know how to work.

Even today I struggle to find truer words for that day. I’m simply honoured to have told it through my images.

If you’re dreaming of a wedding in Taormina and you want it told rather than staged, I’m here — and my Sicily destination wedding guide is a good place to start.