Luigi Ghirri left too soon. Trained as a surveyor and then as a photographer, he died at the peak of his career in 1992.

He began to photograph during a weekend in 1970. Very attached to his country, Italy, he travelled through its territory and his native region, Emilia Romagna.

One day in February 1982, the artist Gianni Leone met him in an old yellow VW Beetle with his wife Paola. Canon 35mm in hand, ready for their tour of Puglia, they left early in the morning and returned after sunset.

They spent many evenings talking, and Ghirri describing to him the typical towns and villages of the area. Gianni “often heard from him, by telephone at the time, but in the summer of that year, the photographs taken in Puglia were ready to be exhibited at Palazzo Città, and at the Fiera del Levante. I asked Luigi if he was happy. He answered in the affirmative and told me that he would soon send them home, asking me to hang them in the order indicated on the back of the photos. Was there a title? Yes: ‘Tra albe e tramonti. Cento immagini per la Puglia’.”

Many years later, the photographs were collected in a book with this title.

This volume explores the intimate relationship between Luigi Ghirri and the Apulian region. The unpublished photographs presented, chosen by his daughter Adele, immerse us in Puglia in the 80s. We discover whitewashed streets, white sand beaches, and streets full of flowers and potted cacti. These photographs are almost all unknown to the general public.

Like a surveyor, he maps out this fascinating city imbued with color, light, and that positive aura that one feels as soon as dusk falls.

This beautiful book, entitled: Puglia. Tra albe e tramonti (2022) by Luigi Ghirri, was published by MACK and can be found on their website: www.mackbooks.co.uk. Instagram: @MACK_Books and @luigi_ghirri. 

Flora di Carlo