Last Updated on 2022/01/11
100-Year-Old Photos Capture Authentic Daily Life in Italy.
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These evocative snapshots of Italy were taken by American photographers and come from the Library of Congress archives between 1860 and 1920.
The images (mainly stereographs and photochroms), were taken in various locations and regions of Italy and portray moments of daily life, the royal family, soldiers and sailors, the front lines of the First World War, refugees and orphans of the war, the missions of the American Red Cross in the country, etc.
The photographs are a sort of time machine that allows us to take a look at a distant fragment of time. The hectic details of the photographs create an atmosphere that shows a bustling daily life that transcends the film.
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Old Photographs & Images of Italy
Italian peasant girl. Black, James Wallace, 1825-1896, photographer. Date: 1861 
Italian peasant (rear view). [date unknown, between 1860 and 1930] 
Naples. [date unknown, between 1860 and 1930] 
Naples. [date unknown, between 1860 and 1930] 
Peasants of Italy. 1890-1900. John Fillis 
Grand colonnade, Naples. John Fillis. 1894 
Street scene, Genoa. 1896. Keystone View Company 
Modern Italy among ancient ruins, Rome, Italy. 1897. Underwood & Underwood 
Naples. Date unknown 
Italian peasants of Rome. [date unknown, between 1860 and 1930] Keystone View Company 
Romanesque costumes, Rome. Date unknown [between 1860 and 1930], Keystone View Company, publisher 
Making rope in Italy. Naples. [date unknown, between 1860 and 1930] Keystone View Company 
The wharf, Naples. Photochrom prints–Color–1890-1900. Detroit Publishing Company Macaroni seller, Naples. [Photochrom, between ca. 1890 and ca. 1900]. Detroit Publishing Co. 
Vendramin Palace, Venice. [between ca. 1890 and ca. 1900]. Detroit Publishing Compan 
Leaning tower of Pisa. John Fillis, 1897 
Washday in Italy, Graves, C. H. 1900. 
Italian peasants near Como. Date unknown [between 1860 and 1910]. Keystone View Company 
Gathering wild cactus fruit, date unknown, [between 1860 and 1930] 
Frigidarium, stabian baths, Pompeii. Date unknown [between 1860 and 1930], Keystone View Company 
The porta marina, Pompeii. Date unknown [between 1860 and 1930], Keystone View Company 
Castle of St. Angelo, Rome. [date unknown, between 1890 and 1930] 
St. Paul’s Gate, Rome. Photograph shows the Pyramid of Cestius at the left of St. Paul’s Gate, which was built about 18-12 B.C. as a tomb for Gaius Cestius. [between ca. 1890 and ca. 1900]. Photochrom. 
Tombs on the Appian way, Rome. Underwood & Underwood, 1900 
Italian Royal Family. 1900. Bain News Service 
Triumphal Arch, Milan, 1900, American Stereoscopic Company 
The public wash, Genoa. Laundry hanging across street, from building to building. 1902. H.C. White Co. 
Temple of Neptune, Paestum. H.C. White Co. 1903 
The basket makers, Naples. 1904 
St. Peter’s church, Rome. 1904. 
Front of provision store with tables of bread, Naples. c1904. C.H. Graves 
Making titles. Naples. 1904. Graves, C. H. 
Beggar, Naples. Universal Photo Art Co. 1904 
Italian cruiser Ettore Fieramosca, 1905 The coliseum, Rome, 1906 
Long corridor, Campo Santo, Genoa. 1908. 
Chestnut venders in Naples, [between 1908 and 1919] 
Old bridge, Pavia. 1908. Stereo-Travel Co. 
Princess Mafalda [between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915], Bain News Service 
At Amalfi [between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915] Bain News Service 
Italian battleship Caio Duilio. [between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915] Bain News Service 
Italian Outpost in Tripoli. Photograph shows Italian troops in Tripoli, Libya during the Turco-Italian War (Italo-Turkish War) which took place between September 1911 and October 1912. Bain News Service Tripoli – Italian artillery. Italian troops in Tripoli, Libya during the Turco-Italian War (September 1911 and October 1912). Bain News Service 
Italian Cavalry. [between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915] Bain News Service 
Italian Motor Cycle Squad. [between 1914 and ca. 1915] Bain News Service 
Italian officers during World War I. [between ca. 1914 and ca. 1915]. Bain News Service photograph collection 
Italians charging Austrian infantry. c1915 Sept. 25. Underwood & Underwood 
Italian & captured Austrian shells [between ca. 1915 and ca. 1920], Bain News Service 
Waiting for food, Pordenone. 1917 American National Red Cross 
34 orphan girls. [1917 or 1918] American National Red Cross Collection 
Ten orphans girls. [1917 or 1918] American National Red Cross Collection Returning home, Salgaredo. [1917 or 1918].
World War, 1914-1918–Refugees. American National Red Cross
Returning home, Sacile. [1917 or 1918] American National Red Cross 
Ambulance, American, Rome. May 1918. American Red Cross Italian refugee boys, Monteporzio. 10 June 1918. American Red Cross 
Italy — 1st line trenches. 1918 July 7 (date created or published later by Bain). 
[between 1917 and 1919] American Red Cross Red Cross, Italy. [between 1917 and 1919]. American Red Cross 
Exercise for crippled Italian 1918 Sept. 13 (date created or published later by Bain) 
Sardinia. 1919. American National Red Cross 1919. American National Red Cross Japanese aviators welcome Italians. [1920 Nov.] Bain News Service
Source: Library of Congress
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