“When I met Pasquale Squitieri at Piazza del Popolo for a coffee, I understood immediately that I was face to face with a character straight out of his own films. There was something hard about him, something sharp — the same raw material as the protagonists he had brought to the screen throughout his entire life. Then he took me to lunch at a restaurant he frequented regularly, the same one where he used to come with Claudia Cardinale. A world entirely his own, recognisable, faithful to itself. When the moment came to photograph him, there was nothing around that could serve as a backdrop. So I looked for the set where everything already was: in his face, in his glasses. A tough man — but to me, he seemed kind.”