Letizia Battaglia
Amore Amaro

  • Italy
  • it
  • en
  • 27'
Letizia Battaglia｜Amore Amaro
Trailer Try 7 days free

Synopsis

Letizia Battaglia (1935–2022) stands among the greatest figures of Italian social documentary photography. At nearly forty, this mother of three left everything behind to become a photojournalist and started working for the newspaper L’Ora. She captured her native Palermo with rare intensity, documenting both the brutal grip of the Cosa Nostra on the city and the everyday lives of its inhabitants with a focus on women and children. A committed activist, she became politically involved in the fight against the mafia during the 1980s. In this intimate portrait, Letizia Battaglia tells her story through her most iconic photographs. Through her gaze, at once tender and piercing, the full complexity of Palermo comes to light.

What you will find in this film

A photographer against the mafia • a life of resistance • the Cosa Nostra through the lens • Sicily under the yoke of the mafia • photography in the service of the most vulnerable • a sensitive and sharp eye • photographing on equal terms

Keywords

Reportage & Society Portrait & Aesthetics Analogue Photography The Artist at Work
I could have « stolen » images with a telephoto lens but I need to be seen. Even if someone spits in my face, I want them to see that I’m taking the picture, as an equal. I’ve thought a lot about that.
A good photograph isn’t about technique. If you’re shooting a bee on a flower, maybe you need perfect technique. But I took pictures the way I am : messy, a bit adventurous. And it worked. I didn’t need great technique, but I needed heart.
At a crime scene, there were only men, not a single woman. Even the coroners, the judges who arrived : all men. I had to bring my photos to my newspaper, L’Ora. They wouldn’t let me through. All those stupid doormen just said ‘No,’ because I was a woman.
When I started taking photographs, I realized I trembled in front of ten-year-old girls, especially those with straight hair, dark circles under their eyes, pale faces, so thin and fragile.

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The authors/artists

Letizia Battaglia
Letizia Battaglia
Photographer
Francesco G. Raganato
Francesco G. Raganato
Film director

Further exploration

Bibliography

Resources

Instagram

Walter Guadagnini ; Letizia Battaglia ; Photo Poche ; Actes Sud ; 2025 

Walter Guadagnini ; Letizia Battaglia ; Dario Cimorelli ; 2025 

Paolo Falcone ; Letizia Battaglia: Life, Love and Death in Sicily ; Contrasto ; 2024

The website of the Archivio Letizia Battaglia