a brief glance issue_58

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issue issue

Young Cobblestones (Rome's new blood)

/ Campari Sour

Year IX a brief glance skateboard mag / Fragments [ p. 16 ] / Underdog (Toddy) [ p. 30] / John Francomacaro A Phone Call From A Friend [ p.70] Escaping Centrale (Levi’s in Milano) [ p. 30] [ p. 50]

[ p. 14] [ p. 20] Year IX a brief glance skateboard mag / Fragments / Red Lips (Plazaboards [ p. 40 ] [ p.62] x a brief glance)

©2019 Vans, Inc.

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Fragments

EDITOR & CONCEPT_ Davide Biondani. {davide@abriefglance.com} ASSOCIATE EDITOR_ Guido Bendotti. {guido@abriefglance.com}

{a brief glance Photo Gallery}

ASSISTANT EDITOR_ Andrew Zolin.

TRANSLATIONS_ Jonathan Levin.

PHOTOGRAPHERS_ Sebastiano Bartoloni, Federico Casella, John Finucane, Davide Biondani.

CONTRIBUTORS_ Francesco Paolo, Chielli, Mario Torre, Mark Baines, Fabio Montagner.

Red Lips {Plazaboards x a brief glance} [p. 20]

Young Cobblestones {Rome's new blood}

DESIGN_ M. Bod Ciceri {Question Mark, ink!#?} GET ALL THE INFO at: info@abriefglance.com

a brief glance skateboard mag is a bulletin published by Fake Donkey Skateboard asd.

No part of this publication may be reproduced without the permission of the publisher.

[p. 14]

[p.30]

Campari Sour {The Sour Solution squad in Milano} [p. 50]

All rights reserved.

Thanks to Canon Italia for the support.

COVER: Pietro Bontà / Frontside Pop-Shove-It Photo: Davide Biondani Milano [Italy]

EDITORIAL

SKATEBOARDING IS ALL ABOUT FRIENDSHIP

Lorenzo Silvestri & Simone Rocca teamwork taildrop ollie transfer // Photo Davide Biondani.

58 Yes, a brief glance skatebaoardmag will be (also) on paper and you will find it at finest skateshops around Europe.

CONTENTS

Louie Barletta

180 fakie frontside 5-0

Seoul [ South Korea ]

Photo

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John Finucane

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Didrik Galasso

Nosegrind

Seoul [ South Korea ]

Photo

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John Finucane

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Luc Boimond

Frontside kickflip

Paris [ France ]

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Sebastiano Bartoloni

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Rainy nights in the city; cold wind, pouring rain, fading lights‌ everything was so uncomfortable and adverse.

Your red lips* were gleaming in the darkness giving us shelter and a familiar feeling that made the shred more pure and safe. *

Photography and words Davide Biondani

[ Red Lips is a special project between Plazaboards and a brief glance featuring Pietro BontĂ , Efrem Sapienza and Edo Olivetti ].

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Edoardo Olivetti // 5-0.

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Efrem Sapienza // Ollie to frontside wallride.

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Pietro BontĂ // Kickflip backside tailslide

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Efrem Sapienza // 180 switch 5-0 revert.

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ROME'S new blood

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Photography & words Davide Biondani

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As Rome is an international city, the Roman skate scene has a long tradition, with people coming and going from all over the world. For example, during the late 1980s and early 1990s there were many foreign skaters living there, who were on another level and who had a strong influence on the scene. But the city witnessed the first skateboards rolling through its streets as early as the 1970s.

There is a very famous photo of the actor Clint Eastwood on a skateboard that was shot there in 1965! Rome was one of the first cities in Europe to have a vert ramp at the beginning of the 1980s, where Hosoi, Lance Mountain, Roskopp and Steve Caballero once skated. Definitely something uncommon at the time.

Skateboarding in Rome has always been rough, without too many frills... just like its surfaces: cobblestones and rough asphalt. Even its white marble is rough and never too easy to skate.

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Roman skateboarding has always been very underground, characterized by speed, long ollies, grinds, and nose slides down endless, kinked hubbas. Skaters like Ale Martoriati, Papik Rossi, and Jonathan Levin are part of that generation of skateboarders who, since the 1990s have carried on and elevated the Capitoline skateboarding tradition in its truest form. They are true legends who are still out there, pushing in the streets. After some years of relative calm, the capital's scene is experiencing a period of great vitality with a new generation of very active locals revolving around the Ponte della Musica, Rome's hot spot in the northern part of the city, and 7Hills Store, the city's main skate shop which is also a distribution and skate company. This new generation of skateboarders has brought a surge of freshness to the Eternal City, and we had the pleasure to spend a few street seshes with them and shoot the photos of this article. The future of Roman skateboarding is in good hands. Daje!

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Gummy // FRONTSIDE SMITH.

Opener Matteo Botti // BACKSIDE KICKFLIP. The backside kickflip is one of the most stylish tricks in skateboarding, and a tramlane trick for Matteo. On a Sunday morning, some streets of the city center were closed to traffic due to some demonstrations, so we took advantage of the situation and rolled down some smooth asphalt before hitting a mellow downhill, at the end of which we got to a square where this spot is located, right in front of a church. We got kicked out by a zealous police officer, but not before Matteo had landed a perfect backside kickflip. There’s lots of

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Roman flavor in this shot.

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Lorenzo Silvestri // OLLIE. Skating in Rome by night has a unique flavor, and Lollo carries on the Roman skateboarding tradition of skating original spots. It's always a pleasure to shoot photos with him for his unique vision and imagination in finding new spots that not everyone has the innate tendency to notice. This natural kicker is created by the roots of a tree that have deformed the sidewalk, and is located right in front of some police barracks, from which a policeman immediately walked out, asking us to be careful when catching the run up from the middle of the street. Lorenzo slammed hard three or four times on the cracks in

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the pavement before landing a perfect ollie.

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Filippo Mazzaccara // 50-50 GRIND. I love rough, unusual spots that have an interesting photographic aesthetic. The first time I saw this large metal box I immediately thought about shooting a trick on it. A few months later I saw Filippo 50 50ing it and when I returned to Rome he was kind enough to try the trick again for the photo.

The run up is in really bad shape and the landing is literally on the tram tracks. There was some construction work going on there that day, and there was a truck parked just behind the spot. Filippo even helped the workers load some metal barriers onto the truck in order to have a free run up. I wondered

Ivano Iacomelli // FRONTSIDE KICKFLIP. An empty transitioned fountain made of perfect white marble is every skater’s dream. This one is located right in front of the Palace of Justice, the seat of the Supreme Court. Usually, there are armed soldiers guarding the building stationed right next to the fountain. In fact, they kicked us out earlier as we were checking out a grass gap. Then, they mysteriously left while the boys were skating a tall ledge just a stone's throw away, so Ivano took advantage of their absence and frontside kickflipped a light at the top of the mellow transition while a middle-aged lady yelled

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at him for "ruining" the monument. Classic.

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what such an old school container was doing still in function at the tram terminal.

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Matteo Botti // 50-50 GRIND. Last spring Matteo broke his foot trying to ollie a super high bump to bar. It was the second time he had tried to ollie it and was also the first day of a shooting mission in Italy's capital city. It took him many months to get back on his board, and I basically returned to Rome to shoot with him. This time around he wanted to go to a spot near a mall. It feels a bit strange to shoot at modern looking spots in Rome, with no cobblestones or ancient white marble. That said, this hubba is massive and you have to ollie onto it at a 90-degree angle from a ledge on the side. The light was magical and I was hoping it would last long enough to have the colorful background lit up in the shot. Luckily, Matteo landed the

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trick before the sun went down.

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Lorenzo Silvestri // NOSEGRIND.

Francesco Belfiore // WALLRIDE NOLLIE OUT. Skateboarding in Rome is rough, raw, and crusty, just like its spots and surfaces. This photo incorporates many characteristics of Roman skateboarding: a marble wall, a rough spot, a skater wearing shorts, and a violent trick. Skateboarding in Rome is a brief glance

powerful.

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Eric Palanti // FRONTSIDE FEEBLE.

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Daniele Sessa // FRONTSIDE SMITH.

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Jonathan Levin // OLLIE TO 50-50 GRIND. Jonathan Levin is a Roman skateboarding legend. He's part of the generation of skaters who from the end of the 1980s and early 1990s have spent their lives wearing down the ledges of the Eternal City. Jonny is a living encyclopedia of the capital's spots, and is an inexhaustible ball of energy. His vision on how to skate spots is unique and always interesting. The night before this sequence we crossed part of the city on our boards, passing by this bench that he immediately pointed out to me. The next day we went there as the day was closing and after studying it a bit and landing a boardslide transfer on the back of the bench, he decided to

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ollie over it to 50 50 on the ledge below. Jonny is the best.

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Daniele Sessa // 5-0 REVERT.

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Lorenzo Silvestri // ALL THE WAY AROUND TO 5-0.

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Eric Palanti // BACKWARD NOSEGRIND REVERT. The Stadio Dei Marmi is a marble paradise, a magical place, one of the most amazing sports facilities in the world dedicated to athletics. Along its perimeter, it hosts 64 marble statues in classical style portraying athletes performing various sporting disciplines.

On one side there is a terrace with some ledges that are usually skateable unless you get kicked out. That day we were lucky enough and spent more than one hour there. Eric’s

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backward nosegrind to forward was smooth, as his style on a skateboard is.

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During the tour for the launch of the new shoe in collaboration with Vans, the Sour Solution team decided to stop in Milan for a week to explore the spots the city has to offer. Unfortunately, they had to deal with the bad weather that limited the sessions, but this didn't prevent them from bringing home some cool tricks, including popping the cherry of some spots that the locals have

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Photography & words Fede Casella.

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Albert consecrates this 90s spot with the 90-est trick skateboarding has to offer. Hardflip revert on a bump to trash can.

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[ ALBERT NYBERG ] // hardflip revert.

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Marre explores the surroundings of the Central Station during peak hour, zig-zagging his way through passersby for this switch ollie up (the locals all agreed that the difficult part of the trick is the switch ollie onto the bank) after that, the wallride frontside crooks is a piece of cake .

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[ MARRE ] // switch wallride frontside crooks.

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[ VINCE HUHTA ] // frontside ollie to switch ride.

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L ocal skaters have been feeling out this spot since the late 80s. Many have tried to skate it, and a few have definitely eyed up the gap to information plaque. Vincent is the only one who's actually ollied into it, and within only a handful of tries too, smiling and shrugging his shoulders.

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[ MARRE ] // crooks.

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This spot is inside the park at the bottom of the Bosco Verticale, the building that won the award as the best skyscraper in the world in 2014, and as you can imagine sessions there usually don't last more than five minutes. This time wasn't an exception either, but four minutes were more than enough for Marre to land this crooks.

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Marre avoids some more pedestrians and shows us a wallride crooks on the bank to wall.

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[ MARRE ] // crooks.

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[ MARRE ] // frontside rock.

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The first day only allowed us a brief sesh at the Central Station, the only partially dry spot in town. The boys skated the manual pad and Albert graced us with a beautiful fakie manual across the street to fakie manual on the pad.

[ ALBERT NYBERG ] // fakie manual.

The Central Station hosts two natural mini ramps inside the fountains on the station's main facade. They are always full of water and when empty serve as toilets for the homeless community that inhabits the square.

So the persistent rain actually came in handy by cleaning and making the fountains skateable.

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