Remembering the Italian Hollywood

Don’t miss a new exhibit of photos by Rino Barillari, the king of 1960s paparazzi.

By MEIRA BIENSTOCK
Barillari 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Barillari 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
The golden era of La Dolce Vita is coming to life at The Jerusalem Film Festival.
The exhibit My Dolce Vita features the photography of the legendary Italian Rino Barillari, known as the “King of Paparazzi.” The exhibition also marks the 50th anniversary of the movie La Dolce Vite by Federico Fellini, which gave the name to the era in Rome’s history.
Describing how Rome served as the meeting place for Italian and international stars, while telling the story of the relationship between a journalist and celebrity actress, the movie also created the character “Paparazzo,” who was known to be an intrusive photographer.
“Barillari was considered the personification of the ‘Paparazzo’ because he was following the movie stars in order to catch them,” Ariela Piattelli, the curator of the exhibit, told The Jerusalem Post.
With Barillari’s permission, The Italian Institute of Culture in Tel Aviv and its new director Carmela Callea, with the help of the cultural association Golda, have brought the original photos that Barillari captured over 50 years ago to Jerusalem. Piattelli said Barillari was more than happy to have his photography displayed because of his love for Israel and because his work has never been shown in the country before.
His exhibit will include pictures he took of Audrey Hepburn, Sofia Loren, Gregory Peck, Marcello Mastroianni, Roman Polansky and Frank Sinatra. All of his pictures were snapped when they were in Rome shooting movies with the Italian film studio, the Cinecitta, nicknamed the “Hollywood on the Tiber.”
“Barillari gathered one of the largest collection of movie stars and celebrities photos, that were displayed all over the world,” said Piattelli. “I would say that it is the encounter between Barillari’s talent and the Rome of the 1960s, when it was like the Italian Hollywood, that makes his collection so unique.”