Departures of note

Luca Turi was an Italian photojournalist based in Bari who spent roughly fifty years documenting the news of the Apulian capital and its region. He worked as a photographer for the ANSA news agency, covering the transformations, dramas, and hopes of his territory, always present with his camera where news was being made.

He is best remembered for his images of the arrival of the Vlora, the Albanian ship that docked in the port of Bari on 8 August 1991 carrying some twenty thousand Albanian citizens fleeing their country after the fall of the communist regime. His photographs of that landing became iconic records of a defining moment in Italian migration history.

Turi died in Bari in 2026 at the age of 82. The mayor of Bari, Vito Leccese, paid tribute to him as "the image beyond the word" and "the eye of Bari on the world," recalling his courage, independence, and a life entirely dedicated to information.