Description: An anthology of Cito’s entire Palio-related production, made over the course of more than 10 years, which earned the Italian photojournalist the First Prize at the 1996 World Press Photo. The San Pio Hall, which still preserves a 15th-century fresco depicting two episodes from the life of the Sienese Blessed Giovanni Colombini, will be renewed to display the more than 40 images, selected for this event. Francesco Cito narrates and the Santa Maria della Scala becomes a place to tell a story through images with extraordinary emotional content; images that will dialogue with evocative environments to describe the charm of a unique event in the world.
Location:
Info
Location: Santa Maria della Scala | Piazza Duomo, 1 – Siena
Period: 2016
Photographer Biography:
Francesco Cito is one of the world’s greatest and most celebrated reporters. In 1975 he made his first cover story for the Sunday Times Magazine with the reportage “The Slaughter.” In 1980 he was one of the first reporters to reach Soviet-occupied Afghanistan by walking with the Mujahiddin over 1,200 kilometers. Between 1982 and 1983 he made a reportage on the Camorra in Naples that will be published all over the world, from Epoca to Stern, from Life to Zeit Magazine. In 1983 he was sent by Epoca to the Lebanese front to do a reportage on the internal conflict within the PLO between Abu Mussa’s pro-Syrian supporters and Arafat’s supporters. He is the only photojournalist to document the fall of the Beddawi refugee camp, Arafat’s last stronghold. From 1984 he began his work in the occupied territories by the Palestinian people. From the beginning of the first intifada (1987-88) to 1994, he was injured three times during the conflict. In 2002, he managed to enter and report on the Jenin refugee camp under curfew and, later, the Bethlehem refugee camp. In 1989 he was sent by Republic Friday back to Afghanistan, still clandestinely, to report on the Soviet retreat. In 1990 he was among the first reporters in Saudi Arabia during the landing of the U.S. Marines after the invasion of Kuwait. He remained in the area until the end of the first Gulf War in March 1991. On several occasions he was present in the Balkan area, from Bosnia to Kosovo (during the various interethnic conflicts) to Albania. In Italy he followed the Mafia and Camorra events as well as various social aspects such as the Palio of Siena. In recent years his focus has been on Sardinia. Numerous prizes and awards have been dedicated to him, including a third prize and a first prize at World Press Photo.
