It is a Rome which – one might say – mixes ‘the Great Beauty’ and Dagospia, more ‘damned than holy’, which is reflected in ‘Italian Party’, a volume written by two photographers Letizia Giambalvo and Vitaliano Napolitano, to whom they owe some of the most beautiful portraits of the world of entertainment but also the testimonies – sometimes even trashy – of the capital’s nights. It might seem an offense to call them ‘Paparazzi’ if it weren’t for the fact that in their capturing in images the cinema environments and social circles of the capital there is – just like in Fellini’s original – the ability to go further, transforming the moment into the mirror of his time.
Published by the interesting house 89Books, ‘Italian Party’ with its 180 shots resulting from a careful selection travels through the most exclusive parties such as the backstage of Muccassassina, with a curious attention to the ‘clothing’ which – explain Giambalvo and Napolitano, a couple in life and in his work, “it is a metaphor, a sort of mirror of our country, in which greed and presenteeism are rampant, eating freely is “cool” and even those who already have a lot want to gorge themselves even more”.
“Our work – they underline – starts from humanistic photography which puts man at the centre, to create a sort of anthropological study. During a party everything is exaggerated and excessive, and the best and worst of people come out. We are all there somehow forced to show others that we are having fun, but a closer look is enough to grasp the true emotions in circulation”. A ‘truth’ that is found in the portraits that populate Italian parties, from Woody Allen to Monica Bellucci, from Bernardo Bertolucci to Matthew McConaughey.