exhibition
17 April 2019 > 08 September 2019

Paolo Di Paolo. Mondo perduto

#PaoloDiPaolo #MondoPerduto

opening hours

Monday closed
Tuesday to Sunday 11 am – 7 pm

more information

curated by Giovanna Calvenzi
The exhibition has been extended until 8 September 2019

A delicate, rigorous and wise recount of an Italy emerging from the ashes of the Second World War.

This exhibition presents an extraordinary chronicler of the Italy of the Fifties and Sixties who published more than 500 photographs in the weekly Il Mondo, portraying created by the famous journalist Mario Pannunzio, protagonists of the worlds of art, culture, fashion and film along with ordinary people.

Paolo Di Paolo (Larino, Molise, DOB. 1925), the extraordinary Italian singer in the fifties and sixties, was capable of telling, with delicacy, rigour, and wisdom, about the country that raised from the ashes of the Second World War.

Among his photos, rediscovered after more that 50 years of neglect, are those of Pier Paolo Pasolini at Monte dei Cocci in Rome, Tennesse Williams on the beach with his dog, Anna Magnani with her son on the Circeo beach, Kim Novak ironing in her room in the Grand Hotel, Sofia Loren joking with Marcello Mastroianni in the Cinecittà studios. And then a family seeing the sea for the first time at Rimini and the devastated faces of the people at the funeral of Palmiro Togliatti.

Main sponsor Gucci
ph. Paolo Di Paolo, Anna Magnani nella sua villa a San Felice Circeo (Roma), 1955, © Archivio Paolo Di Paolo

Full bio

Paolo Di Paolo

Paolo Di Paolo è nato nel 1925 a Larino, in Molise. Nel 1939 si trasferisce a Roma per conseguire la maturità classica e dopo la guerra si iscrive alla facoltà di Storia e filosofia dell’Università La Sapienza. Frequenta gli ambienti artistici romani e decide di sviluppare, attraverso il mezzo fotografico, il proprio interesse per le arti figurative. Nel 1954 inizia a collaborare con il settimanale Il Mondo, fondato e diretto da Mario Pannunzio. Di Paolo ne diventerà uno dei principali collaboratori, con il maggior numero di foto pubblicate (573 immagini).
Full bio

Paolo Di Paolo was born in Larino, Molise, in 1925. In 1939 he moved to Rome where he obtained his secondary school diploma in classical studies and, after the war, enrolled in the faculty of History and philosophy at La Sapienza University. He attended the artistic circles of Rome and decided to develop, through photography, his interest in figurative arts. In 1954 he started to collaborate with the weekly magazine Il Mondo, founded and edited by Mario Pannunzio. Di Paolo would become one of its main collaborators, with the largest number of photographs published (573 images).


photogallery