Miss Italy, even before being a national beauty contest, even before being the punctual representation of the evolution of feminine aesthetics, even before being a fertile ground for the search for new cinematographic and television proposals, is a custom that has been with Italians for more than 70 years. He has now entered the collective imagination as the Sanremo Festival or the Giro d’Italia. He invaded the minds of the Italians, especially in his early days, and sought the good girl, the girlfriend or the neighbor next door, to whom the extraordinary opportunity to leave the anonymous newspaper had been granted. For the aspiring Miss, it was the dream of hunting, happiness, the mirage of cinema and notoriety and the goal that seemed real and achievable.
The photographic representation of the contest has always been the official representation, that of the final and the poses, the one almost for magazines or live broadcasts.
Instead, this exhibition aims to explore the backstage, to discover its origins and aspirations. From the documentation of the ritual of chest-waist-hip measurement, abolished from 1955, to the admission of married and colored women, from the exhausting collective trials to the unique parade, to the private moments of the participants on the organizational frontier. Two great masters of Italian photography Federico Patellani and Gianni Berengo Gardin, as well as the images of the famous Dufoto agency, tell us the myths and legends.
Curated by Renato Corsini
Civic Gallery Palazzo Todeschini (Desenzano del Garda),
from May 11 to July 28.
