With the death of Mario Giacomelli (1925-2000), Europe lost one of its most talented photographers. Giacomelli trained initially as a typographer: this early interest in graphic effect became a central part of his later photographic work. Winner of numerous medals and prizes, he achieved international status with exhibitions in Europe, America and Japan. This book is the most comprehensive survey of Giacomellis work ever to be published. Arranged in themes, each section is a testament to his highly personal, striking and artistically atmospheric visual style - demonstrating his life-long preoccupation with landscapes (emphasizing their linear and abstract patterns), rural townscapes, street scenes, still lifes, and portraits of everyday Italian life. With over 600 beautiful and poetic duotone photographs, this extraordinary and inspiring collection reveals a profound understanding of the photographers country and its people, and of the mastery of form and effect that make his photographs imaginative works of art in their own right.