Un paese, conceived in 1952 by Cesare Zavattini and Paul Strand, was published in April 1955 by Einaudi and was among the first Italian volumes that can properly be called photobooks, for the design intent in the relation between text and pictures, for the care of the layout and the making, and for its poetic and descriptive value.

It has been considered, and still is, one of the classics in the history of the medium.