An Italian photographer, Stefano Pellegrini, has won the Astronomy Photographer of the Year award. This is the world's most prestigious astrophotography prize, awarded annually by the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. The judges were won over by a shot of the Milky Way rising above the baobabs of Botswana. Pellegrini himself describes the image in simple terms: "My Milky Way among the baobabs in Botswana."
Behind that phrase lies a patient and meticulous effort. The shot isn't a snapshot, but the sum of 340 photographs of the sky, taken and assembled to capture every nuance of light in our galaxy above the African savannah. A long process. Made up of nights spent outdoors, of waiting, and of technical precision, it captures what it truly means to "photograph the stars": not a lucky moment, but a discipline.
The Royal Observatory in Greenwich has awarded this prize since 2009, and over the years it has become an absolute benchmark for sky photographers. Capable of attracting thousands of shots from every corner of the planet, the fact that the winner, above all others, was an Italian, with an image composed thousands of miles from home, speaks volumes about Italian talent around the world. He doesn't stay still; he travels, challenges distant landscapes, and brings with him a gaze that recognizes beauty wherever it finds itself.
There's a silent coherence to this story. The baobabs of Botswana, trees that seem sculpted by time, and the Milky Way, which from the southern hemisphere reveals itself in all its expanse. They are two of the oldest images known to man: the earth that endures the centuries, the sky that contains them all. Pellegrini has put them together with the patience of someone who doesn't chase the perfect shot, but builds it night after night.
This, perhaps, is the most beautiful aspect of the story. You don't need to stay in Italy to bring Italy to the world. Sometimes all it takes is a lens pointed upward, in a remote corner of the savannah, to tell who we are through what we can see. A Milky Way photographed in Botswana, by an Italian and awarded in London, is also this: proof that beauty, when you look at it carefully, has no boundaries—not even a passport.
Photo created with AI
