Following the publication of Christ Stopped in Eboli (1945) by Carlo Levi, Matera – the ‘peasant capital’ – became an irresistible destination for writers, photographers and intellectuals from around the world, coming to terms with a place which history seems to have forgotten. Cinema could of course not be excluded. The Milanese Alberto Lattuada (director) and Federico Patellani (photographer) decided to set She-Wolf (1953) there: a film in which Neorealism blends with melodrama.

Patellani’s photographic reportage, left in the bottom of a drawer for many years and presented here in its entirety, ranges from the search for locations and the set photos of that adventure, providing key documentation of the places and faces of Matera over sixty years ago, as well as a demonstration of the sharp artistic personality of the Milanese photographer.