Found Photographs
October 23, 2025 – April 6, 2026, Sottoporticato

A retrospective of about 300 photographs by a photographer who, with delicacy, rigor, and mastery, portrayed Italy as it rose from the ashes of the Second World War.

He was the most beloved photographer of Il Mondo by Mario Pannunzio, where in 14 years he published 573 photos, and one of the most frequent contributors to the weekly magazine Tempo, with reports from Italy and abroad. He portrayed movie stars, writers, artists, nobility, intellectuals, and ordinary people. Together with Pier Paolo Pasolini, he traveled along the Italian coasts documenting Italians on vacation.

His photographs, rediscovered by his daughter after more than fifty years of oblivion, were first presented in an organic way at a major exhibition at MAXXI in Rome in 2019. Today, one hundred years after his birth, Silvia Di Paolo has revisited her father’s archive and, together with Giovanna Calvenzi, offers a new perspective on his remarkable work — starting with previously unseen early images, retracing his long commitment to documenting the transformations of Italian society, the world of cinema, and his travels abroad.

The exhibition, which will include many previously unpublished and, for the first time, color photographs, along with archival materials, videos, period magazines, and original documents, will feature a special focus on the city of Genoa.

Paolo Di Paolo, born May 17, 1925, in Larino (Molise), moved to Rome immediately after the war and enrolled in the Faculty of History and Philosophy at La Sapienza University. He frequented the Roman art scene, particularly the Forma 1 Group, deciding to develop his interest in the visual arts through photography.

He began as an amateur photographer, in the truest sense of “photographing for pleasure.”
In 1954, his first photo was published in the cultural weekly Il Mondo, directed by Mario Pannunzio, where Di Paolo would become the most published photographer until the magazine closed in 1966.

Between 1954 and 1956, he collaborated with Settimana Incom Illustrata, and during the same period began a long-standing partnership with the weekly Tempo, which lasted until 1968.
He authored numerous reports and features with some of the most renowned journalists of the era. As a correspondent, he traveled to the Soviet Union, Iran, Japan, the United States, and throughout Europe.

Thanks to friendships within the film and art worlds, he produced private and exclusive portraits of major intellectuals, artists, actors, and directors of the time. He concluded his photographic career alongside Irene Brin, the celebrated fashion and society journalist, focusing on fashion and lifestyle photo features.

With the advent of television, the closure of many magazines, and the increasingly sensationalistic orientation of the press, in 1968 Paolo Di Paolo decided to leave photography and return to his studies. For about fifty years, he curated historical publications for the Carabinieri Corps. His archive—comprising over 200,000 negatives—remained hidden for half a century.

In 2019, the MAXXI Museum in Rome hosted his first major retrospective, Lost World – Photographs 1954–1968.
In 2021, photographer and filmmaker Bruce Weber released the documentary The Treasure of His Youth, dedicated to Paolo Di Paolo.

His artistic work has been the subject of essays and numerous university theses in Art History, Communication Sciences, and the Humanities and Social Sciences.
In May 2023, Paolo Di Paolo received an Honorary Degree in Art History from La Sapienza University of Rome, which honored him as the most important Italian photographer of the 20th century.
Paolo Di Paolo passed away on June 12, 2023, in Larino, at the age of 98.

In collaboration with Marsilio Arte
Curated by Giovanna Calvenzi and Silvia Di Paolo

Tickets – Buy here

Full price 12€

Reduced 10€

Youth (ages 6–18) 5€

Special Under 27 (ages 19–27) 7€ (excluding weekends and holidays)

Special discount for Ducale+ Membership Card holders €9*
*for those who have already used both entries for selected exhibitions

Open Tickets – Buy here

Full open ticket 14€

Reduced open ticket 12€

Youth open ticket 10€

Groups

School groups: €5 (including presale)
Adult groups: €11.50 (including presale)