Puglia

negative 1958; print 1960 · Photograph · 28.7 × 23.5 cm

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Not receiving at present

J. Paul Getty Museum

Los Angeles, United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: yesterday
In this state since: Oct 7, 2026
Source: The museum

On the map Museum page

About the work

Giacomelli operated his printshop, Tipografia Marchigiana, in the center of Senigallia. The successful establishment became a gathering place for photographers, artists, and critics, and provided the address stamped on the verso of all his photographs. In its early years, the business occupied the majority of Giacomelli’s time, leaving only Sundays for photography excursions. While he most often explored his hometown, its beaches, and the surrounding countryside in the Marche region, he occasionally traveled farther afield. For this 1958 series, entitled Apulia (Puglia), Giacomelli made a journey of about 330 miles to Apulia, Italy’s most southeastern province (the “heel of the boot”).

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There he focused his attention on the interaction of multiple generations of townspeople gathering leisurely against the simple, whitewashed architecture typical of hillside towns such as Rodi Garganico, Peschici, Vico del Gargano, and Monte Sant’Angelo. These images provide insight into Giacomelli’s ability to engage his subjects, while also under-scoring a fundamental humanistic impulse in his work. Penguin Books used this photograph of the young man in a white shirt who turns to meet Giacomelli’s gaze for the cover of its 1961 translation of Elio Vittorini’s anti-fascist novel Conversation in Sicily (Conversazione in Sicilia, first published in Italian in 1938–39). The English-language volume also featured a foreword by Ernest Hemingway.

See other examples of works from this series ([2016.179.6.3](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297437/), [2016.179.50](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297505/), [2016.179.57](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/297516/), [2021.1](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/350496/)). Virginia Heckert, J. Paul Getty Museum, Department of Photographs 2021

J. Paul Getty Museum