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Rino Barillari
Italian photographer (born 1945)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rino Barillari OMRI (born 8 February 1945) is an Italian paparazzo, often reviled as "The King of Paparazzi".[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] He was named an honorary lecturer in photography at Xi'an International University in October 2011.[8]
In 2024, Barillari made headlines when he alleged that actor Gerard Depardieu had punched him.[9][10] The resulting assault case against Depardieu is scheduled to go to trial in a Rome court on 17 June 2025.[11]
Due to a improved public understanding of the negative impact of his style of work (inherently involving violation of privacy, harassment, mental health troubles[12]), exhibitions of his work have made efforts to rebrand him as an artist or photographer rather than paparazzo - a term which derives from the Italian for “pest”.[13] Barillari himself remains unrepentant, claiming he enjoyed his career. He reports having visited the hospital 173 times due to altercations with his victims.[14]
