Giulio PiLi

Cagliari, via Roma. Photograph by Giulio Pili, 1854

The amateur photographer Giulio Pili, born in Monastir in 1872 and died in Dolianova in 1950, was a wealthy merchant who operated in Cagliari where he owned an established armory.
His photographs were taken in southern Sardinia between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

History of the Pili Fund
The Fund was purchased in 2000 by a private individual who in turn had purchased it from a Cagliari antiquarian; it consists of 133 negatives in glass sheets, with silver bromide gelatin, in good condition (13x18) and (9x12).
With the exception of one image that was published in a work edited by the old owner of the Fund, all the others are unpublished and date back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The collection includes personal portraits, of his family and friends, views of Cagliari (in particular of the Fair), the Sant'Efisio Procession of 1900 and 1901. Some document the first period of the use of electric light in Sardinia, others document aspects of the daily life of the petty-bourgeois class of citizens.

Update

10/2/2026 - 09:13