"Tutti pazzi per i Beatles. Il concerto del 1965 a Milano nelle fotografie di Publifoto" exhibition in Milan

The Gallerie d'Italia - Milano hosts, from 24 June to 7 September 2025, the exhibition "Tutti pazzi per i Beatles. Il concerto del 1965 a Milano nelle fotografie di Publifoto", with a selection of photographs curated by the Archivio Storico Intesa Sanpaolo.

The photojournalism agency Publifoto produced over 500 photographs on 23 and 24 June 1965: two “historic” dates, if you think that the Italian tour that brought The Beatles to play in Milan, Genoa and Rome between 24 and 28 June remains in the annals as the first and only opportunity to hear the Fab Four live in Italy.

The Beatles arrived at Milan’s Central Station from Lyon late at night on 23 June and were greeted by 2,000 delirious fans. Tino Petrelli, one of the agency’s leading photographers, takes a powerful picture: The Beatles are all together in an Alfa Romeo Spider (the organisation had placed five at their disposal, but the huge crowd forced them all into one car), surrounded by the affection of a jubilant multitude of fans. The following day opens with a photo shoot on the 6th floor terrace of the Grand Hotel Duomo, with the spires of the cathedral behind them, and then the press conference; then The Beatles arrive at the Vigorelli Velodrome for the two concerts, one in the afternoon at 4 p.m. and one in the evening at 9 p.m.

Publifoto sent no fewer than seven of its photographers to document the event: Sergio Borsotti, Sergio Cossu, Gianfranco Ferrario, Carlo Fumagalli, Benito Marino, Eugenio Pavone and the aforementioned Tino Petrelli. A considerable investment. After all, The Beatles were a worldwide phenomenon and, reasonably enough, the newspapers and magazines could not have ignored it.

From 24 June, in fact, some of the photographs began appearing in daily newspapers, “Corriere della Sera”, “Corriere d’Informazione”, “Il Giorno”, “L’Unità”... Alongside the pictures of John, Paul, George and Ringo – the most famous being those taken on the hotel terrace, as well as those on stage – there were also photographs of their fans, highlighting a social phenomenon that had to be documented. And, as the fans waited for their heroes, in anticipation of the first notes of Twist and Shout, the opening song of the concerts, they listened to the performances of the supporting acts: Peppino di Capri, Guidone e i suoi amici, Giovani Giovani, Augusto Righetti e Le Ombre, New Dada, Fausto Leali e i Novelty.

“Ma chi erano mai questi Beatles”, sang the Italian band Stadio – But who were these Beatles: a fleeting and extravagant “music-vocal quartet” (as they were described in the agency’s files) or something else? In Italy, journalists, writers, intellectuals and, generally speaking, almost everyone over the age of thirty, judged them very superficially and even maliciously, failing to understand their revolutionary scope. Young people, on the other hand, had a very different perception and, more or less consciously, in Italy as well as in the rest of the world, embraced the phenomenon of The Beatles, helping to create the legend.

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of those events, 62 magnifications of negatives taken from the Publifoto Archive will be exhibited at the Octagono Cloister of the Gallerie d'Italia in Milan. On the occasion of the exhibition, all the more than 500 photographs related to the event will be restored, digitized, catalogued and opened online for public use by the Intesa Sanpaolo Historical Archive.