Yago Soria

In search of the wolf and the saint

In collaboration with the Institut d’Estudis Baleàrics

Yago Soria
In search of the wolf and the saint

It is the project by Spanish photographer Yago Soria born from the collaboration that Cortona On The Move has had with the Institut d’Estudis Baleàrics since 2019.
In the early 13th century, Francis of Assisi walked to Gubbio and put an end to the conflict between a wolf and the locals by calling the animal “brother.” Inspired by this story, Yago Soria Díaz finds similar tensions within the communities of Casentino, in the province of Arezzo, where more than a dozen stable wolf packs roam the forests. In search of the wolf and the saint, he reflects on these frictions: shepherds on high alert, park technicians monitoring the packs’ movements, environmentalists viewing this return as an important sign of the conservation of Italy’s wildlife, and institutions mediating between worlds that struggle to understand each other. The wolf, once again, divides.

Herd in the fog. A herd of goats grazing in a fog-covered forest in the limits of the Casentinesi Forest National Park area, Italy, 2026.

The Den. A carved family of wolves placed inside the hollow trunk of an old tree. Moggiona, Arezzo, Italy, 2026.

La Verna. A Franciscan friar looking out over the mountains from the Sanctuary of La Verna, Casentino, Italy, 2026.

Bio

Yago Soria (1996, Spain) is a photographer and teacher. His projects arise from a close relationship with the context and often straddle a space between documentary observation and deliberate intervention.