I met Luigi Salvioli in the early 1980s, a time when Milan was, in some ways, quite enjoyable (and not at all pleasant in others) and his presence, his enterprising spirit and his liveliness undoubtedly rendered the city more stimulating – for me at least.

We almost immediately became friends and our friendship was of the kind that seems predestined and is, at once, adventurous. We shared a passion for art, a taste for beauty, a desire to experience everything, a love for reading, an intellectual zeal, and the excitement of things yet to be completed. I have always admired Luigi’s determined intuition, his spontaneity and his generosity. I delighted in it. I delight in it.We gladly shared certain "off" moments, experienced as though they were real transgressions. I remember one particular autumn morning, fleeing like illegal immigrants aboard a city bus (neither of us has ever driven) to Bergamo, seeking churches in the fog to admire the masterpieces of Lotto's earlier works.We also shared – we always have – a sentimental weakness, an ethical sense of existence that extended beyond our fleeting passions, a reciprocal and unyielding underlying loyalty.

Thus equipped, our friendship has endured many seasons, unbroken. I watched Luigi evolve from internationally acclaimed model to successful agent, straddling the disjointed and booming years of Italian design's glory, always, however, maintaining a sort of secret element of disenchantment and irony. He adored fashion and understood it inside out because he did not take it seriously. That is, he took it for what it was (and is). And he was one of those who contributed to its becoming, nonchalantly rendering even its undeniable narcissism acceptable. Then he opportunely understood, as he often does, that times were changing or, better, they had changed. And he invented a new profession – new in Italy in any case. He became a photography agent. In truth, Luigi had always stood on the other side of the lens, as model as well as "director" of man's image. In fact, he had always been aware of photography's role in creating the fashion-object, an inevitable role with a demagogic power.