Aperture, 132. Summer 1993. Immagini Italiane. (Photography in Italy)

Includes Del Bene E Del Male, Or Who's on Top by Lina Wertmuller; The Comic Art of Dario Fo by Ron Jenkens; The Gospels according to Fo by Dario Fo; Flash Warning, The Paparazzi Are Coming by Massimo Di Forti; A Reading of Recent Italian Photography by Roberta Valtorta; A Minimal Adventure by Paolo Costantini; Blood Ties: The Mafia by Vincenzo Consolo; Against the Odds: One Woman's Battle with the Mob; An Interview with Letizia Battaglia by Giovanna Calvenzi; The Invention of Southernness: Photographic Travels and the Discovery of the Other Half of Italy by Anotonella Russo; Collecting and the History of Italian Photography by Carlo Bertelli, and other articles. Photos by Olivo Barbieri, Gabriele Basilico, Letizia Battaglia, Ernesto Bazan, Ugo Mulas, Oliviero Toscani, Luigi Veronesi; and many others. Fine.  Summary:

Aperture No. 132, published in Summer 1993, is devoted to the rich and evolving traditions of Italian photography, presenting a wide-ranging survey of photographers working in Italy across generations and styles. Titled Immagini Italiane, the issue examines how Italian photographers have engaged with history, place, and cultural identity while responding to both national and international artistic currents.

The magazine features documentary, conceptual, and experimental work that reflects Italy’s complex visual landscape—from historic city centers and industrial zones to rural regions and intimate domestic spaces. Rather than promoting a single national style, the issue emphasizes diversity, showing how Italian photography moves fluidly between realism and abstraction, personal narrative and social observation. Many of the images grapple with Italy’s layered past, addressing themes such as memory, tradition, modernization, and the tension between permanence and change.

Essays in the issue trace the development of photography in Italy, discussing the influence of neorealism, postwar documentary practices, and conceptual art. The texts highlight how Italian photographers often approach their subjects with subtlety and restraint, favoring suggestion over spectacle and allowing meaning to emerge through context and sequence. The issue also situates Italian photography within broader European and global conversations, underscoring its growing visibility and importance in the contemporary art world of the early 1990s.

Immagini Italiane underscores the significance of photography in Italy as a reflective and critical medium. Aperture No. 132 presents Italian photographers as artists deeply engaged with their cultural environment, using photography to explore identity, history, and everyday life. The issue ultimately positions Italian photography as both distinctly rooted in place and actively responsive to international artistic dialogue.