In 2014 and in 2017 I sent two emails to OTP suggesting a few italian photographers. In one episode (I think end-2016/2017) Bill & Jefferey actually talked about another photographer which I also enjoy, Luigi Ghirri, so I thought hey, it's the moment to remind them about other italian photographers!
I have condensed and edited the text written in those emails in this gist.
In this latest edit I have expanded the section on Alex Majoli and added a fourth photographer, who happens to be a dear friend of mine and the antithesis of the accomplished/professional photographer, Dylan Kier.
The first one is Francesco Cito; he was unknown to me until last month, when I went to a presentation that he gave here in my town. I got irritated by many of his ideas but then, reviewing his portfolios, I have to say that ultimately he's very, very good.
He's been drawn to war photography and he has been in all sort of dangerous places early in his career. All these photos are not nearly as attractive in my opinion as some others, maybe more intimate but most importantly more original.
Like those shot at the Palio of Siena, which is an annual horse race held in Siena (a beautiful little town in Tuscany). This is an event that puts the various town districts ("rioni") against each other, and everything gets very aggressive. While he was showing some of these photos, there was one where he snapped the moment where two groups of people were coming at each other fists in the air, and he said
"I could only take this one picture because if they spotted me they would have lost interest in fighting each other and punch me instead!".
These are photographs full of energy I think and I bet you would like them too. I have found a slideshow here, the photos are plastered with the agency logo unfortunately:
http://felixfeatures.photoshelter.com/gallery/Il-Palio-by-Francesco-Cito/G00000AXAJhJB4_Y
Then there's a Neapolitan wedding, which has some appeal also to non-wedding photographers; it's more a tale of how weddings are celebrated in southern Italy (you should also see the first scenes of a great little italian movie, Reality, check this review: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/15/movies/reality-directed-by-matteo-garrone.html).
Here's the gallery for this wedding story:
http://www.panos.co.uk/stories/2-13-350-301/Francesco-Cito/Exchanging-ciaos/
Then another bleak view at Naples and the history of camorra (organized crime):
http://www.panos.co.uk/stories/2-13-237-165/Francesco-Cito/See-Naples-and-Die/
Finally, there was a great selection of photographs taken in Sardinia, that showed a very different view of this beatiful island, usually known by the majority of people for beach resorts and flashy yachts.
You can find other work by Cito here on panos.co.uk.
My second photographer is Gianni Berengo Gardin. He has been making pictures for a long time, and I particularly like his depiction of italians. Some of his shots in the 70s Milan are just great. He recently had an exhibition in Milano:
http://www.mostraberengogardin.it/
I bought the book but cannot find this version that I have on any online bookstore. Anyway there was an instagram account (just look for "storiediunfotografo"), I'm not sure it still works or is maintained.
Google images seems to have lots of hits for his photographs but looks like they're always the same ones. You should really get that book "Storie di un fotografo" to have a clear and comprehensive view at his photography.
He has also done some social work like a depiction of the status of mental asylums in Italy:
http://www.repubblica.it/2006/08/gallerie/spettacoliecultura/berengo-gardin/1.html
There is a sort of biography written in italian but with a few pages available for preview also on google books:
http://books.google.it/books?id=NEWOi6GlfJwC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false
Alex Majoli is younger than the two above but he's already BIG; he's a "proper" photojournalist: Alex Majoli and you can tell he's big -- a Magnum photographer nonetheless.
I listened to him once talking about going back to Brazil to tell the stories of normal people that he's known for years and I guess that's when I first fell for him.
He has lots of projects, very different and broad in scope, from mad men on set to sicily with a compact camera. I think these three however are the ones I like the most:
https://www.magnumphotos.com/newsroom/alex-majoli-refugee-crisis-on-lesbos/
https://www.magnumphotos.com/newsroom/leros/
https://www.magnumphotos.com/newsroom/politics/spain-catalonia-crisis-alex-majoli/
Despite his name (Dylan Kier), he's also italian (his mum is english though so he's bilingual). Full disclaimer: he's a friend of mine! But even if he could, he would not pay me to put his name in this list. I'm adding him name because he's the quintessential amateur photographer with very little marketing skills. Why Vivian Maier and not Dylan Kier?
These are a few of his blog posts from his months-long trip to Southern America:
http://www.dylankier.com/blog/faces-leon
http://www.dylankier.com/blog/people-guayabito
http://www.dylankier.com/blog/easter-week
http://www.dylankier.com/blog/faces-trinidad
http://www.dylankier.com/blog/havana
http://www.dylankier.com/blog/monteverde