Beautiful Italy of the 50s and 60s in black and white frames by Paolo Di Paolo

Paolo di Paolo was not just a talented photographer, in his profession he was an intellectual and aesthete to the core. His most beautiful works are those that the Italian did in his native country after the devastating and exhausting Second World War. Di Paolo chronicled the renaissance of Italy, the economic boom and the heyday of the famous la dolce vita.

There is not a drop of obscenity or brutality in his photographs, only a beautiful, sometimes sad, stylish, charming, sweet Italian life, from which you do not want to break away.

About 20 years ago, while digging through Dad's basement in search of skis, Silvia Di Paolo found a chest full of negatives, slides and prints. At that time, she was 20 years old, and she did not even realize that her father was a photographer – especially a leading reporter for Il Mondo, one of the most popular "news" magazines in Italy.

Born in Larino, in Southern Italy, in 1925, Paolo Di Paolo moved to Rome shortly after World War II hoping to become a photographer. He got a job at Il Mondo in 1954, and worked there for 14 years. Over the years, 573 of his photographs have appeared in the magazine, from reports from Japan, Iran and New York, to portraits of famous people from the world of cinema and art.

Shortly after the magazine closed in 1966, Di Paolo left the photo. He "no longer felt resonant with time," and turned to philosophy and history, hiding his extensive photo archive in the basement, where it was found 20 years later.

Now, after 50 years of obscurity, more than 250 of Di Paolo's photographs will be exhibited at the MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Art in Rome, thanks to Alessandro Michele, creative director at Gucci, who stumbled upon the photos in a bookstore gallery, and thanks to the museum's growing interest in research in the field of photography. In collaboration with the Museum, Gucci has collected more than 300 photographs of Di Paolo to date. The result of the work was the described exposition and the publication of the photographer's works in an album with the name Fotografie.

Di Paolo's photographs from the 50s and 60s show many contradictions present in post-war Italy, between rich and poor, old and new. Section of the exhibition entitled "Society/Rome" (Society/Rome), presents photographs of women in mini-shorts strolling along the promenade, next to pictures of agricultural communities and Ferrari factories.

Another topic that brought the photographer fame was portraits of intellectuals and people of art, in whose circle he communicated. In the found collection, among others, there are portraits of film director Pier Paolo Pasolini visiting Testaccio Hill in Rome, Tennessee Williams on the beach with a dog and actress Kim Novak stroking in her room at the Grand Hotel.

Di Paolo built his work on empathy and trust, and this makes each photo unique and unmistakable, writes his daughter Silvia. Many of his works were not published, as the photographer considered them too intimate for the press.

"Di Paolo has found his own independent and cultural path," says curator Giovanna Calvenzi. "He was able to enter the world of art, literature and cinema easily, often with humor."