Sanremo Festival: historical "off-stage" photos on display in Turin

“Non ha l’età. Il Festival di Sanremo in bianco e nero 1951-1976” is the title of the exhibition that the Gallerie d'Italia - Turin is dedicating to the history of the musical event, featuring 85 photographs from the Intesa Sanpaolo Publifoto Archive.

The photographs in the exhibition mainly focus on "off-stage" moments: the singers during rehearsals, the artists' catwalks around the city, autographs, the audience, the artists portrayed in curious situations, the make-up room, the orchestra and the press room.

The exhibition, curated by Aldo Grasso, also attests to the role played by Intesa Sanpaolo's in moments crucial to Italy's identity by promoting and sharing images from the Publifoto Archive.

The photojournalists of the Publifoto Agency took more than 15,000 photographs of the Festival during the years when the event was hosted at the Sanremo Casino (1951-1976), documenting an Italy that was in a hurry to forget the war and poverty and looked for a newfound sense of light-heartedness in music.

For the occasion, Intesa Sanpaolo's Historical Archive has also completely restored, digitised and catalogued all the more than 15,000 photographs of the coverage of the Festival by the Publifoto Agency, which can now be consulted online.

Thanks to the media partnership with Rai, the exhibition also features audio and video provided in collaboration with Rai Teche. The exhibition benefits from the patronage of the Region of Piedmont and the City of Turin.

The Turin museum, along with those of Milan, Naples and Vicenza, is part of Intesa Sanpaolo's Gallerie d’Italia museum project.

Open to the public from 1 February to 12 May 2024.
For information on timetables and admission, consult the Gallerie d’Italia website.