La domenica prima (The Sunday Before) is Giacomelli’s final series, photographed on January 16, 2000, just before he was rushed to the hospital. His awareness of the end is unmistakable.

First published in 2011 in Mario Giacomelli. Sotto la pelle del reale, the series is bittersweet. The desolation of the winter beach merges with the vastness of the sea, creating a profound solitude. Yet, this silence feels nurturing, like a maternal embrace preparing to envelop Giacomelli.

Fittingly, his photographic journey concludes where it began: at the beach. His first photograph captured a sandal washed ashore, and in this series, he reflects on how the present transforms into the past. The scene is deserted, the palm trees wrapped for winter, and the only “living” elements are the symbolic fake dog and birds he often used in his later work.

Though Giacomelli may not have known he would pass away on November 25, 2000, his final works—31 Dicembre, Così come la morte (Just Like Death), Cremonini, Autoritratti (Self-Portraits), Bucci, Ricordi di un ragazzo del ‘25 (Memories of a Boy from 1925), and Questo ricordo lo vorrei raccontare (I’d Like to Tell You About This Memory)—all anticipate the end of life and art. True to his cyclical view of existence, this conclusion feels less like an ending and more like a metamorphosis toward infinity.

(Adapted from Katiuscia Biondi’s text)