There Are No Hands to Caress My Face (Italian: Io non ho mani che mi accarezzino il volto) by Mario Giacomelli, made from 1961 to 1963 at the Diocesan Seminary of Senigallia, Italy, portrays young seminarians at play. The photographs initially circulated as Pretini or I pretini, often translated as "Little Priests." Giacomelli adopted the better-known title from a poem by priest and poet David Maria Turoldo after making the images, following his practice of pairing completed series with poetry.
Giacomelli connected the project to his interest in poor and humble communities, noting that many seminarians came from peasant families. Through repeated visits, he sought to understand their daily lives while responding to the seminary setting and the graphic possibilities of their long cassocks. He described the photographs as moments of play and transgression within the institution, and said he discarded conventional codes to reveal the human being beneath a prescribed role.
In the black-and-white photographs, seminarians run, throw snowballs, spin in circles, and gather across pale, sparsely described spaces. Their dark cassocks form shifting shapes against snow or grounds rendered almost white, while raised arms and opened cloaks sometimes make the figures appear suspended. Slow shutter speeds blur movement, and flash was occasionally used. Giacomelli also alternated between observation and intervention. He warned the seminarians before some photographs, hid above them for a circular game, and initiated certain activities. The gelatin-silver prints were shaped through high-contrast hand-printing, which reduced grass and pavement, and a darkroom mask intensified the white fields.
The series was presented at Photokina in 1963 under the early I pretini title and circulated through Italian exhibitions and competitions in 1964. John Szarkowski acquired a selection for the Museum of Modern Art in 1964, and Pretini received first prize at the I Premio Brescia per la Fotografia in 1965. Later presentations included Scanno and the Priests at The Photographers' Gallery in 1988 and Castello di Rivoli's 1992 retrospective, after which exhibited prints entered its collection.
