La Dolce vita re-emerges in Palermo: Scafidi’s shots and the story of an era

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A different Palermo, of which perhaps even the memory has been lost. A city which, for a brief and unrepeatable stretch of the twentieth century, was the landing point and set of great international stars and beyond. Grace Kelly who crosses the city with regal measure, Sophia Loren who attracts glances without the need for a stage, Marcello Mastroianni who seems to belong to Palermo as much as the sea or the noble palaces. In those years the city did not play a role: it inhabited it.

Nicola Scafidi’s shots: a memory that becomes visible again

Nicola Scafidi, one of the great interpreters of Italian photojournalism of the second half of the twentieth century, established that suspended, elegant and everyday atmosphere. Those shots, which remained kept in the family archives for a long time, were fished out by his son Pucci and today they become protagonists – one can say with certainty – of a photographic exhibition promoted by Morettino, which brings back to center stage a visual heritage capable of still speaking to the present. And they recover a memory that has been set aside if not forgotten. «It is a profound and almost touching joy for me to be able to combine the name of my father, Nicola Scafidi, one of the masters of Italian photography, with the historic Sicilian coffee roasting company Morettino – says Pucci Scafidi -. “Palermo Dolce Vita” is the beginning of an artistic journey which, in collaboration with Morettino, will develop throughout Italy. A journey that will accompany the public towards the centenary of Nicola Scafidi’s birth, a milestone that I wish to honor by bringing to light the intensity of his gaze and the poetry of his images. Seeing his photographs dialogue with the world of coffee, a symbol of conviviality, tradition and family roots, is like finding an invisible thread that unites generations. It is a gesture of love towards our history and towards Palermo, which my father told with delicacy and truth.”

The Italian Grand Tour: the journey of the Dolce Vita becomes a collection

The exhibition “Palermo Dolce Vita. The myth of an era in the shots of Nicola Scafidi”, open free to the public until January 31st is also the opportunity for Morettino to launch The Italian Grand Tour, a collection of coffees dedicated to the cities of the Dolce Vita: a capsule collection made up of seven coffee blends dedicated to Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples, Capri, Taormina and Palermo. The cans, inspired by tourist posters from the 1950s, are not designed as simple packaging, but as narrative objects. Each blend translates an idea of ​​the city and time of day in a sensorial key, recomposing the ideal journey of the Grand Tour in a contemporary form.

An exhibition spread between the historic center and the waterfront

The exhibition is conceived as a widespread itinerary between the Morettino Caffè Palermo at Quattro Canti, reopened in 2024 in the historic Art Nouveau space overlooking the city centre, and the Morettino Lab at Palermo Marina Yachting, included in the waterfront redevelopment project. On display is a selection of shots that reflect the happy and cosmopolitan Palermo of those years: the arrival of Grace Kelly and Prince Ranieri, the faces of Sophia Loren, Ingrid Bergman, Burt Lancaster, Marcello Mastroianni, the private parties in the noble palaces, the concerts, the walks in the symbolic places of the city, from the beaches of Mondello to the Foro Italico. Photographs that tell of an Italy that was reflected in the future with confidence and that the world looked at with admiration.

Behind the cultural story, a business strategy

However, behind this cultural operation there is a well-defined industrial structure. Founded in 1920 in Palermo, Morettino is today a roasting company that has been able to transform its history into competitive leverage. The company has a turnover of around 12 million euros, employs around forty people and operates on multiple channels: food service, gourmet retail and e-commerce. Over the last ten years it has strengthened its national presence, reaching the point of being distributed in around 500 cafés in Italy, with significant presences not only in Sicily but also in Milan, Rome and Venice.