Photographer Alex Webb’s Italian ‘vita dolce’ becomes Lavazza’s 2026 Calendar at Art Basel
Lavazza brings its most human calendar yet to Art Basel
In a week when Miami Beach is swallowed by neon installations, crowd-control ropes and collectors in sunglasses, Lavazza has arrived with something far gentler: a photographic love letter to Italy. Its 2026 Calendar, Pleasure Makes Us Human, shot by photographer Alex Webb and unveiled at Art Basel Miami Beach, follows a “Grand Tour” of everyday Italian pleasures — from lakeside idleness to trattoria lunches — with coffee at the centre of it all.
Webb’s approach is sophisticated yet relaxed, eschewing clichés to focus on Italy’s quieter rhythms. The images form a warm, tightly observed portrait of the country’s small rituals: a pause at a city-centre bar, a bocce match on a sunlit court, a lakeside play scene caught in the late-afternoon glow. As Webb says, he aimed to “follow the light, colours and movements of people,” capturing moments that convey energy, resonance, and joy. Coffee, naturally, threads through each image — a marker of culture, conviviality and the quiet pleasure of everyday life.
Creatively directed by Armando Testa Agency, the calendar leans into the vita dolce: Italy’s sweeter, more lived-in life where rhythms slow down, spontaneity comes to the fore, and happiness is found in small gestures and shared moments. Across twelve months and a dedicated cover, Webb’s photographs reveal the vitality of daily life, from Palermo’s famous Santa Rosalia procession to an Art Nouveau barbershop, framed in warm, summer-like colours.
“Coffee is a spark; it’s always the beginning of something,” notes Francesca Lavazza, Board Member of the Lavazza Group. “It’s a gesture that becomes more personal when you seek a moment for yourself, a time to nurture relationships with your family and friends. It truly represents a universe of connections that embraces the whole world within a cup.”
Now in its 34th edition, the Lavazza Calendar has long paired the world’s top photographers with the brand’s narrative vision. This year, Alex Webb’s lens captures Italy’s authentic, lived-in pleasures and the subtle rhythms that define Italianness, offering a gentle, wry, and highly human take on a country that continues to inspire the world.
Lavazza’s 2026 Calendar, “Pleasure Makes Us Human”, is on show at Art Basel Miami Beach from 4–10 December 2025.
Elena Leo is the Arts & Lifestyle Editor of Ikon London Magazine.