Ezio Vitale Biography
Ezio Vitale was born in Avezzano, Abruzzo, in 1926. In 1930, his family moved to Rome. In 1944, he decided to volunteer for the Allied troops and spent the months preceding the end of the war in the American base in Livorno.
After returning to Rome, Vitale began his career as a photographer. He collaborated with Ivo Meldolesi's agency and in 1953 founded his own photojournalistic agency, Italy's News Photos, together with his colleague Guglielmo Coluzzi. His first scoop occurred the same year when he decided to follow the news story that would become the first major political scandal of the Republic: the Montesi case.
In the following years, together with his colleagues, he created a true photographic genre. Vitale stated: "We were the inventors of the sweet life (...) but the first paparazzo in the world was me".
In August 1958, Vitale was invited by Federico Fellini to dinner along with other paparazzi. The aim of the evening was to get to know the photojournalists of Via Veneto, their stories, their anecdotes and their tricks. One of the episodes that make up the film "La dolce vita" will be inspired by a story documented by Vitale, who managed to sell the report to the Times and Paris Match.
Vitale has had the opportunity to photograph many famous people from the world of entertainment and culture over the years, not only with paparazzo techniques, but also through a series of "posed" services. His list of photographed celebrities includes six presidents of the Italian Republic, the English royal family, the kings of Greece, Spain and Holland, Popes John XXIII and Paul VI and a dozen other heads of state.
Vitale has also been able to photograph many famous people from the world of entertainment and culture over the years.
In 1972, Ezio Vitale decided to move to Brazil with his second wife and successfully continued his career as a photographer. He died in 1991
