BRUNO BARBEY – The Italians

 12/09/2025 – 11/06/2026

At Palazzo Barolo, the exhibition The Italians (Gli Italiani) retraces the reportage created by Bruno Barbey, a young French photographer and member of Magnum, who between 1962 and 1966 traveled across Italy in a Volkswagen Beetle. The result is a visual narrative of contrasts: around one hundred black-and-white photographs spanning from Rome to Milan, from Naples to Palermo, as well as smaller towns and lesser-known squares.

With an empathetic yet unobtrusive gaze, Barbey captured both the elegance of high society and the life of working-class neighborhoods, religious processions, children at play, everyday moments marked by poverty, and at the same time by a vibrant sense of community.

The aim of the exhibition is to reveal the social and economic contradictions of Italy during the economic boom: a country suspended between modernization and tradition, between new hopes and old inequalities. These photographs are not only historical documents but also portraits of the Italian spirit in the 1960s, images that still resonate today for their emotional intensity, atmosphere, and powerful collective storytelling.

Opening hours:
Monday CLOSE
Tuesday 10.00 – 19.00
Wednesday 10.00 – 19.00
Thursday 10.00 – 19.00
Friday 10.00 – 19.00
Saturday 10.00 – 19.00
Sunday 10.00 – 19.00

BRUNO BARBEY – The Italians: curated by Caroline Thiénot-Barbey in collaboration with ARES.