#HashtagRome is an experimental photographic project created by Tommaso Ausili, Carlo Gianferro and Luigi Orru, by blending together thousands of pictures of Rome that have been posted on Instagram by users from all over the world.

We have searched and collected the most recurring photos of the main monuments of Rome, tagged with the same hashtag. We have downloaded and painstakingly overlaid each photo to make them fit together and compose a sort of “average” photo.

Each layer is made of various and different photographs of the same subject: it is the same monument shot in color and black and white, at daylight and night time, with many or few tourist, on sunny and rainy days.

Layer by layer the unnecessary gradually fades away: the tourist flow turns into a dark, blurred shadow while the “Great Beauty” of Rome soars in a timeless, light colored digital gouache.

It was a great privilege for me to work with Tommaso and Carlo, two great photographers.