[OS X TeX] Placement of page-sized figure

[Richard J Benish]

Greetings,

Using a template provided by the journal, Il Nuovo Cimento, I can 
well enough place a figure (pdf) when it is small enough so that 
other text (besides the caption) appears on the same page. But I want 
the figure (with its caption) to take up the whole page. When I try 
this, however, I lose control of where it goes. The figure ends up at 
the end of the document, after the references.

I've encountered a similar problem before, and in that case a 
workable solution was to use the \includepdf command. It worked 
because there was no bona fide "caption" to the figure. Whereas, in 
the present case, I want a bona fide caption.

Is there a way to regain control of where a page-sized figure is 
placed using the usual \includegraphics command? Or a way to put a 
caption on a page using the \includepdf command? Or some other way to 
get the same effect?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Richard Benish