Letizia Battaglia, who shot life and death in Palermo, dies

By FRANCES D’EMILIO
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Letizia Battaglia, an Italian photographer who documented the arrests of Mafia bosses and the bodies of their victims, has died in her native Sicilian city of Palermo. She was 87. Among authorities announcing her death was Palermo’s mayor, who stood vigil during her wake Thursday, a day after she died. Much of her work, shot in black-and-white, explored the everyday lives of those who lived in Palermo’s poor neighborhoods, where Cosa Nostra bosses held sway. Among her noted photos was that of the body of Sicily’s assassinated governor being held by his brother, Sergio Mattarella, who 35 years later would be elected Italy’s president. Battaglia also photographed ordinary Sicilians in moments of grief and joy.