Letizia Battaglia
photographer
Letizia Battaglia (1935–2022) was a prominent Italian photojournalist and photographer known for her courageous documentation of Sicilian life. Starting her career as a journalist in 1969, she became the first female photographer for the Italian daily press. From 1974 to 1990, she headed the photo department of L'Ora in Palermo, where she captured numerous scenes of mafia crimes and arrests despite receiving death threats. Her work is characterized by a raw, humanist approach to documenting social injustice, poverty, and the brutal reality of organized crime in Sicily. In her later years, her work also explored female nudes as a form of artistic expression.[1,2,3]
Themes
- Mafia
- Sicily
- Social injustice
- Poverty
Books
Works by Letizia Battaglia
- Chroniques siciliennes 1989 · Centre National Photographie · book · French ISBN 2867540534 Co-authored with Franco Zecchin.
- Dovere di Cronaca – The duty to report 2006 · Peliti Associati · book With Franco Zecchin.
Exhibitions
- 2023 Letizia Festival Fotografico Europeo, Busto Arsizio solo
- 2026 Life in Sicily Fotomuseum Den Haag solo

