Letizia Battaglia: Documenting the Sicilian Mafia Through the Lens of Daily Life

In the mid-1970s, a woman in her early forties began taking photographs for L’Ora, a small but politically active newspaper based in Palermo. Letizia Battaglia was not a trained photojournalist in the traditional sense, nor did she arrive with years of photographic experience. But what she brought to her role was a deep familiarity with the city’s rhythms, a political consciousness shaped by post-war Italy, and a growing sense that silence in the face of violence was no longer tenable.

Her photographs, taken mostly in black and white, soon became widely recognised not just for their artistic quality, but for their documentary power. Battaglia captured a Sicily caught between history and modernity, between tradition and disruption. Her most well-known work depicts the visual aftermath of Mafia activity: crime scenes, bereaved families, funerals of judges and journalists, and a city struggling with both visible and hidden forms of fear.

Context: The Sicilian Mafia in the Late 20th Century

During the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s, the Sicilian Mafia — often referred to as Cosa Nostra — maintained a strong influence over many aspects of life in Palermo and other parts of the island. Violence became a part of the social and political fabric. This period, sometimes referred to as the Anni di Piombo (Years of Lead), was marked by repeated killings of law enforcement officials, political figures, and civilians.

In this environment, reporting on organised crime was challenging. Journalists faced not only logistical difficulties in gaining access to accurate information, but also significant personal risk. Battaglia, working often with her colleague Franco Zecchin, provided a rare visual documentation of Mafia violence — and of the society that endured it.

Battaglia’s Entry into Photojournalism

Born in Palermo in 1935, Battaglia left Sicily in her twenties, living in Milan for several years. She returned in the early 1970s and took up photography as a means to accompany the stories she was writing. As she later noted, she began taking photographs not because she had ambitions in photography, but because editors needed images alongside text. What began as a practical necessity quickly became a calling.

Battaglia was soon hired by L’Ora, where she remained for nearly two decades. She was the first woman to work as a photojournalist at the newspaper, and one of the few women photographing daily life in Sicily during this time. She developed a strong focus on social issues — not only organised crime, but also poverty, women’s lives, and political unrest.

A Photographic Record of Public Grief

Battaglia’s photographs are perhaps best known for their documentation of Mafia-related crime scenes, but her work also captured the broader context: the public funerals of assassinated judges, quiet street corners after an attack, or the expressions of onlookers absorbing what had just occurred.

Her images are often devoid of spectacle. There is a restraint to her composition that invites the viewer to observe rather than react. This was not work designed to provoke emotional response through sensationalism. Rather, her images insist on a form of witnessing — neither exaggerated nor concealed.

One widely circulated image shows a child playing in a narrow alley just metres from where a killing took place hours earlier. Another shows the mother of a victim seated beside a coffin, her face turned slightly away from the camera. In these moments, Battaglia’s work points to the continuation of life amidst trauma, and to the resilience of those living under the constant weight of uncertainty.

Not a Neutral Observer

Battaglia did not view herself as an objective chronicler. She often spoke about her frustration with the Mafia’s presence in Sicilian life and her desire to counter its normalisation. Her photography was political in nature, though not in the sense of partisanship. It was a politics rooted in civic engagement — in making visible what others tried to suppress.

While some of her photographs were later used as evidence in criminal proceedings, her intention was not forensic but civic. She understood the camera not only as a tool for documentation, but also as a form of public memory.

Political Involvement and Social Initiatives

In the 1980s and 1990s, Battaglia became involved in local politics. She was elected to Palermo’s city council as a member of the Green Party and worked on cultural and environmental issues. She also championed the development of creative spaces for young people in the city, many of whom lived in neighbourhoods where opportunities were limited.

Battaglia remained committed to both visual and civic work throughout her life. She participated in exhibitions, led photography workshops, and remained a vocal critic of political complacency in relation to organised crime.

Archival Legacy

Letizia Battaglia left behind a visual archive of over 600,000 images. These photographs have been exhibited across Europe and North America and form an important record of one of the most turbulent periods in modern Sicilian history.

Her work has been featured in institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and the MAXXI in Rome. In 2019, the documentary Shooting the Mafia introduced her life and work to wider audiences, combining her photographs with archival news footage and reflections on her personal journey.

A Legacy Rooted in Accountability

Battaglia passed away in 2022, but her images continue to be cited in discussions around civic responsibility, memory, and the ethics of witnessing violence. For many young photographers and activists, she remains an example of how visual documentation can intersect with social change.

Her work is now studied not only by historians of photography, but also by scholars examining the social and political life of southern Italy during the second half of the 20th century. It also provides material for understanding how individuals — particularly women — navigated professional and ethical responsibilities under complex social conditions.

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