 ""War
is war!" is the battle cry of one of the most famous photographers
in the world, otherwise known as "The King of Paparazzi."
Elegant in his impeccably cut suit and concealing the penetrating
eyes of his tiny "007"-style camera under his coat, Rino
Barillari evokes memories of the fabulous Dolce Vita and of the night-time
matches that he fought in the ring of the Via Veneto.
"I arrived in Rome when I was 14 and it seemed like America to me. I got shots of everyone, from Richard Burton to Liz Taylor. I got Peter O'Toole drunk, and I got into a brawls with Marlon Brando and Aznavour." How can we forget his legendary quarrel with Frank Sinatra and his bodyguards which didn't get too out of hand thanks to the tables of the Café de Paris that acted as a barrier? And what about the slap that he got from Aldrin, the astronaut jealous of his privacy to the point of "lunacy"? His latest ventures, after a career in all fields
of photography, clearly demonstrate that Rino is still in great
shape and doesn't fear new run-ins with the hot-tempered Mickey
Rourke (whom he recently caught in a disco) or with Claudia Schiffer's
hairstylist, who dumped freezing water from an ice bucket on him
for photographing her at the restaurant Dal Bolognese.
Rino Barillari, officially crowned "The King of Paparazzi" in a ceremony in 1988, embodies the spirit of a society in continual evolution: his wish is that we can make the transition from the dolce vita to the vita dolce, passing from a mere hedonism to a refound joy of living. The heart of this paparazzo is so big that he's obviously not one of those ruthless journalists hypocritically demonized by the media. On the contrary, this acute observer of reality succeeds in capturing life's contradictions by emotionally involving himself without getting too attached. Maybe he is a modern romantic hero, the interpreter of a dream never forgotten that comes alive within the lens of his camera. Rino Barillari - "The King of Paparazzi"Copyright Where Rome Magazine |
