( CNN ) -- Amid the rubble , you see a child 's toy , clothing , furniture , family photographs . Homes that once sheltered families now ripped open , their insides spilling out like intestines . These haunting images were captured in Aleppo in June by Italian photographer Matteo Rovella . While many photographers concentrate on the faces of Syria 's brutal conflict , Rovella saw another side : what happens when a person 's private space becomes ripped open by war . `` You see such scenes , and you imagine the moment when people had to escape from the rooms , '' he said . `` I imagine the people who must run away -- or die . '' Rovella had visited several camps on both sides of the Syria-Turkey border in early 2013 . Thanks to a friend in the city keeping him up to date with events , he decided in June to head to the Syrian city of Aleppo , which has been ravaged in fighting between government and rebel fighters . Syrians take steps toward healing . After organizing a car ride with a man from the Free Syrian Army , the main opposition rebel force , he crossed the border from Turkey . Many journalists choose to enter with the rebels for better access and less censorship than with the Syrian government , he said . The trip to Aleppo involved nerve-jangling encounters with armed checkpoints and constant fear of discovery . Just carrying a camera was dangerous , he said , particularly since the abduction of several foreign journalists in the country . `` There are many independent armed gangs , and they could stop you , rob you , kidnap you and in the worst case , kill you . '' When he arrived in Aleppo and began to work , photographing and interviewing Free Syrian Army fighters and local residents , he saw much of the city 's precious historical monuments damaged or destroyed and neighborhoods smashed to pieces . At one point , while he was interviewing a local rebel commander , a mortar wheeled overhead , slamming into two fighters less than 100 meters from him . `` It was horrible . And strange , as it felt like I was not there , maybe because of the camera creating distance , just working inside my ( camera ) viewer , '' he said . `` In truth , of course , you are very much there , and you 're risking your life . '' After a few days , Rovella began documenting the devastation through a series of evocative images of abandoned and destroyed homes that had been attacked over the course of the conflict . Almost all the people he met over the course of his visit had lost part or all of their homes . `` It 's something like still-life photography , but you can see inside the homes tensions and fear , the moments of violence , how you were obligated to leave your things , your home , your life and go away , maybe to not come back . '' Nearly 700 killed in Syria rebel infighting . It was dangerous work . Many of the buildings are now lookout points for the Free Syrian Army and targeted by government attacks . He often found himself sprinting with rebel fighters from one building to the next . `` I was walking through buildings and taking pictures very fast , '' he said . `` But I tried to do it in an artistic way. `` Now back in Italy , he feels that the images of abandoned buildings show how the calm of everyday home life can suddenly , terribly , be shattered forever . `` It is a way to sensitize people to the war , '' he said of his images . `` I think my testimony could be a little piece more to help the Syrians . A very tiny piece of help . ''
Italian photographer spent six weeks in Aleppo documenting impact of Syria 's conflict . Matteo Rovella wanted images to convey impact of violence that forced people to escape . `` I was ... taking pictures very fast , but I tried to do it in an artistic way , '' he said .