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Photojournalist based in Peru
@natgeo Explorer @ted Speaker
Winner @worldpressphoto @worldphotoorg
Finalist @prixpictet human
My latest book here:

POSTS STORIES REELS

THE BOOK IS OUT!

Starting today, El Precio de la Tierra is officially available on my website through the link in bio.

After almost ten years of fieldwork across the Andes, El Precio de la Tierra finally exists as a physical object.

A project created to document the social and environmental consequences of the mining industry and the resistance of Indigenous communities defending their land, water, and collective memory.

Thank you to everyone who believed in this project and supported it before the book even physically existed.

Thank you to Sarah Leen for the editing and photo selection.
To Santiago Escobar and Raya Editorial for the graphic design.
To journalists Vidal Merma, Marcelo Rochabrun, and Nelly Luna for the texts.
To EBS Printing and Natalia Alana for their work on the book.

A special thanks as well to the institutions that supported the project and the book: National Geographic Society, Pulitzer Center, Vital Impacts, and CCFD-Terre Solidaire.

But above all, thank you to the Indigenous communities who welcomed me and shared their testimonies throughout these years. This book also belongs to them. Next month, I will travel again across the Andes to bring copies of the book directly to the communities that made this work possible.

It is a chapter closing in the field and beginning now in people’s homes.

I still believe in photography as testimony, memory, and a democratic tool capable of creating awareness.

Still Photos: @spb_studio_fotografico

@roseleen
@escobart
@rayaeditorial
@vidal.merma
@marcelorochabrun
@nellylunaamancio
@nataliaalana
@insidenatgeo
@pulitzercenter
@vital.impacts
@ccfd.terresolidaire by @alessandro.cinque

It is a real honor to be one of the regional winners of the World Press Photo 2023 with my project “Alpaqueros”.

It is very important for me to shed light on stories of Peru, a country which I love, and which adopted me almost six years ago. I like to think that, in a small way, I am giving something back to the Andean people who accepted me at a time when I decided to put my life on the line and get out of my comfort-zone, moving from my country, Italy.

I dedicate this award to my parents: to my mom, who guides me from heaven, and who with her fight taught me to struggle in life, and to my father, who taught me photography and gave me the opportunity to learn a profession.

I thank the jury for highlighting this story as “a great example of solutions-based journalism” for talking about “climate crisis from a fresh angle” and “balancing narratives about loss and preservation”. “The project is beautifully photographed, full of humor, and provides the perfect amount of information”.

I also thank my family, Carla @carlasamon , my friends and all the people who have been close to me over the years.
Thank you @dominiqueanneh and @whitneycatherinejohnson and the entire National Geographic @natgeo and Pulitzer Center @pulitzercenter team who believed in me and this story.
Special thanks to Sarah Leen @roseleen my mentor, who helps and supports me everyday, and to @vidal.merma my tireless travel companion.
Color grading: @nataliaalana

#WPPh2023 @worldpressphoto by @alessandro.cinque

My first cover for National Geographic.
My photograph taken in the Peruvian Andes was chosen by National Geographic China as their cover.

@natgeo @insidenatgeo @pulitzercenter
#leicacamera #natgeo #peru #alpaca #reportagespotlight #documentaryphotography #photojournalism by @alessandro.cinque

Applications are now open for the 2027 Vital Impacts Environmental Photography Fellowships and Mentorships!

Through our Vital Impacts fellowship program, we had the privilege of supporting photographer Alessandro Cinque (@alessandro.cinque) and his extraordinary long-term project, El Precio de la Tierra.

For nearly a decade, Alessandro has followed the human and environmental costs of mining across the Andes, traveling through Peru, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador. He has spent years alongside Indigenous communities, documenting not only the devastating consequences of extraction, but also the deep connections people have to their land, their culture and their way of life. What makes this work so meaningful is Alessandro’s commitment to staying with these stories over time.

This is exactly why programs like our fellowships and mentorships matter. We want to support photographers who are willing to go deeper, build meaningful relationships and dedicate themselves to stories that deserve to be seen and understood.

If you are a photographer working on a story that can deepen our understanding of the natural world and our relationship with it, we would love to hear from you.
Please share this with someone who might benefit from this opportunity, and apply through the link in our bio. by @alessandro.cinque

My latest for DIE ZEIT @zeit , with Maria Mast.

Two days on assignment in Peru, following the journey of the blueberry — from breeding labs and endless production lines to the fields of the coastal desert.

Once a seasonal forest fruit, the blueberry has become a global “superfood” and Peru is now the world’s largest exporter. Behind the perfect size, sweetness and crunch is a story of science, marketing, industrial agriculture and a landscape profoundly transformed to feed a growing global appetite — in a region increasingly shaped by water scarcity and the extreme weather brought by El Niño.

Text: Maria Mast @maria_mastsees
Photo Editor: Jasmina Hanf @jasminahanf by @alessandro.cinque

Questo mese per InGiostra Alessandro Cinque (1988) fotogiornalista italiano di base in Perù. Il suo lavoro indaga le conseguenze ambientali e sociali dell’industria mineraria sulle comunità indigene dell’America Latina.

I suoi lavori sono stati pubblicati, tra gli altri, da The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, The Guardian, Reuters e The Washington Post.
È National Geographic Explorer e ha ricevuto grant dal National Geographic Society e dal Pulitzer Center. Nel 2026 pubblica El Precio de la Tierra, il suo primo libro fotografico, edito da Raya Editorial e curato da Sarah Leen.

Cerca giostreedizioni su @substack e leggi l’intervista!

A cura di @sofiagiuntini.raw e @teodoramalavenda

#ingiostra #alessandrocinque #intervista #fotograﬁa by @alessandro.cinque

Groom’s POV

There was absolutely no chance I was going to make it through my own wedding without taking pictures or videos.

So I bought a pair of Ray-Ban Meta and wore them for some of the most important moments of the day, just to capture the day from my own point of view.

Meanwhile, all the actual photographers and videographers who were there are busy working on their material — so don’t worry, this is definitely not going to be the last post about our wedding.

To everyone who travelled to Mataró from near and far: thank you. ❤️
It was an absolutely incredible weekend, and we still haven’t fully recovered — emotionally, physically, or otherwise.

We feel incredibly lucky to have friends and family who came to celebrate with us. It was, without a doubt, the best weekend of our lives.

And yes… we’re still a little hungover.
Mostly emotionally.

Bride: @carlasamon
Location: @masiamascoll
Edit: @nova.comunicazione @daniele_cresci88
Thanks: @rayban @meta.ai
Photo cover by me by @alessandro.cinque

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE

Today, my latest assignment for The New York Times Magazine was published online, and it will be available in print on July 19.

For this story, I traveled through Paraguay and Germany alongside the brilliant @jeneenjaffe to document the work of scientists racing to preserve one of humanity’s greatest invisible frontiers: the human microbiome.

From Indigenous communities deep in the Paraguayan forest to cutting-edge laboratories in Germany, this story explores how our relationship with microbes is shaping the future of medicine, biodiversity, and our understanding of what it means to be human. It was a privilege to witness such an extraordinary scientific journey and help bring it to life through photography.

A huge thank you to @coralie.kraft for trusting me with this assignment, and to @allison_pasek for the thoughtful editing that helped shape the story.

Colorist @nataliaalana

The link is in my bio if you’d like to read the full article.

@nytmag by @alessandro.cinque

$Ingles y Italiano en los comentarios. Perú, junio de 2026. En mi última cobertura para Reuters me fui a los Andes peruanos junto a Alex y Alfredo, a una comunidad donde el resultado electoral adquirió una forma casi simbólica: 181 votos para Roberto Sánchez y 181 para Keiko Fujimori. Cincuenta por ciento contra cincuenta por ciento. Una simetría perfecta que, más que resolver el conflicto, lo hace visible. Los números describen el resultado de una elección. Los territorios revelan su significado. Es allí donde aparece lo que José Carlos Mariátegui había intuido hace casi un siglo: el Perú no es una nación concluida, sino un espacio atravesado por tensiones históricas aún no resueltas. Los mapas electorales cuentan una historia conocida. Por un lado, el Perú costero: Lima, los mercados, el voto en el exterior. Por otro, el sur andino, donde la demanda de reconocimiento sigue sin encontrar respuesta. Pero sería un error leer esta fractura como el enfrentamiento entre dos países. Como escribió José María Arguedas, el drama peruano no es la oposición entre mundos distintos, sino su convivencia inconclusa. El ascenso de Pedro Castillo dio voz a una parte del país históricamente excluida de los centros de poder. Pero la trayectoria de su gobierno mostró cuán difícil es transformar una victoria electoral en un proyecto nacional compartido. Esa división perfecta habla de la fragmentación peruana: no solo entre centro y periferia, sino entre memorias, identidades y distintas visiones de nación. Quizás allí reside la verdadera cuestión: no quién gana, sino qué queda después de la victoria. En aquella comunidad andina, donde el pueblo quedó literalmente dividido en dos mitades perfectas, tuve la impresión de estar observando una metáfora del Perú contemporáneo. Y quizá vuelvan a cobrar vigencia las palabras de Mario Vargas Llosa cuando definía al Perú como «una sociedad de todas las sangres y de todas las contradicciones». Contradicciones que hoy atraviesan el territorio, el voto y la propia idea de nación. by @alessandro.cinque$

Peruvian presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori of the Fuerza Popular party in Lima, Peru, June 2026. Fujimori, seeking the presidency for the fourth time, overtook Juntos por el Perú candidate Roberto Sánchez after votes cast by Peruvians living abroad were counted. With 98.25% of ballots tallied, Fujimori led Sánchez by 1,027 votes out of more than 18 million votes counted. by @alessandro.cinque

Lima, 7 Junio 2026 by @alessandro.cinque

Peruvian presidential candidate Roberto Sanchez addresses his supporters during his closing campaign ahead of the June 7 runoff election against Keiko Fujimori, in Lima, Peru, June 4, 2026. REUTERS/Alessandro Cinque by @alessandro.cinque

Alessandro Cinque

@alessandro.cinque