Villa Bardini is hosting “Florence ’50 ’60 ’70”: an exhibition from the Locchi Photo Archive

Until October 18, a ten-part exhibition exploring the images that have documented the city’s rebirth and evolution

Through October 18, Villa Bardini is hosting Florence ’50 ’60 ’70. Images from the Locchi Photo Archive: a photographic journey that, through images from the Locchi Photo Archive—an iconographic heritage protected by the Ministry of Culture—traces three decades of Florentine history: the 1950s, a glamorous and optimistic period when Florence became an international catwalk, caught between glamour and Lapian utopia; the 1960s appear more intense and dramatic, marked by the flood of ’66 and the first youth protests.

Mostra Archivio Foto Locchi a Villa Bardini (Foto Locchi/©Archivio Foto Locchi)

Finally, the 1970s depict a more reflective and conceptual city, where the Florentine fairy tale gives way to a new urban and cultural complexity.

"The exhibition Florence ’50, ’60, ’70 - adds Erika Ghilardi, Head of the Historical Archive, Locchi Photo Archive - through a rigorous and sensitive selection by curator Giovanna Uzzani, restores to the city, with precision and lyricism, the memory of a community, revealing the extraordinary value of an archive that preserves its identity. Through the lens of generations of master photographers and the care of a family that has preserved it for over a century, a heritage of the highest artistic quality emerges. Heartfelt thanks go to Fondazione CR Firenze for this precious gift to the city.”

The exhibition, organized into ten thematic sections, brings together a selection of 150 photographic works from among the 300,000 digitized images in an archive that, following recent acquisitions (the Levi Photo Archive, the Italfotogieffe Archive, and the Bazzechi Photo Archive), now holds over 5 million photographs. The first section opens with postwar memories: the city in reconstruction appears industrious, founded on the principle of a high and shared moral commitment. Social issues and the right to work appear at the center of city life in the 1950s: we see the mobilization of the Pignone workers, the testimony of Don Milani, the revolutionary Barbiana School, the Isolotto community gathering around Don Mazzi; then the tragedy of the flood, the squares mobilizing in 1968, and the new social upheavals of the 1970s.

Mostra Archivio Foto Locchi a Villa Bardini (Foto Locchi/©Archivio Foto Locchi)

One room is dedicated to Fiorentina, retracing the 1955–56 season that earned the team its first Scudetto, then the 1960–61 season with the victory in the Cup Winners’ Cup and the Coppa Italia, and again the second Scudetto in 1969, up to 1972, the year in which the barely eighteen-year-old Giancarlo Antognoni made his debut with the team. But it’s not just soccer: sports photography ranges from the Mille Miglia with Tazio Nuvolari in the legendary Ferrari 166 Spider Corsa to the legendary Gino Bartali racing in the Giro d’Italia and training in the countryside. Then there are the images from the legendary editions of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, on stage and in the intimacy of the dressing rooms, in search of shots that move the viewer with their vibrancy; and the life of art that, from the city streets, ventures into the hallowed halls of exhibitions and the intimacy of artists’ studios, all the way to the terraces of Forte Belvedere. The final thematic section is dedicated to the invention of “Made in Italy,” when on the prestigious catwalk of the Sala Bianca in Palazzo Pitti, in showrooms, and even against the backdrop of the Renaissance city, the latest fashion creations of the extraordinary fashion houses, now established on the international scene, are presented: the Florentine identity is now a brand.

Parallel to the vibrant unfolding of the city’s history, the exhibition highlights the importance of this photo agency, founded in 1924 as “Foto Locchi - Studio of Art and Photographic Technique” thanks to Tullio Locchi, a former acclaimed war photojournalist and portraitist of the royal family. Following Tullio’s sudden death, Foto Locchi was taken over in 1926 by his closest collaborators and, under the direction of Silvano Corcos, became the city’s official photo agency. During the most productive postwar years, the company came to employ as many as thirty master photographers. In the tradition of the artisan workshop, apprentices learned the trade through instruction from the masters, who were entrusted with passing down the “Foto Locchi style,” which curator Giovanna Uzzani succinctly defines as follows: “The narrative tone, typical of photojournalism, stands out in the images, without sacrificing the quality of the shot or a taste for composition—appreciable for its modern style and, at the same time, for its marked lyricism, in pursuit of pure visual emotion.”