Italy around 1900. A Portrait in Color

Description

Bella Italia Journey back to early 20th-century Italy ''You may have the universe,'' composer Giuseppe Verdi once said, ''if I can have Italy.'' Back in the mid-19th century, Verdi's emotive language appealed to the patriotic sentiments of an emergent nation state. After decades of struggle and bloodshed, the movement known as Risorgimento triumphed with the 1861 proclamation of Italian Unity, assembling disparate kingdoms, territories, and borders that had hitherto been ruled by Austria, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Papal States.

Giovanni Fanelli, professor of Architecture History at the University of Florence, is the author of several works of architectural history, urban history, graphic arts and photography, translated into several languages; he has been the Scientific Director of the Fondazione Ragghianti (Lucca) and is series editor for a number of titles of Laterza publishers (Rome). Graphic designer, photographer, and collector Marc Walter (1949-2018) specialized in vintage travel photographs, particularly photochromes, of which he held one of the world's largest collections. He published numerous books featuring images from his collection as well as his own photographs. Sabine Arque is a photo researcher, editor, and author. She has collaborated on numerous publications on the themes of travel, the history of tourism, and photography.

...more than a century later, these images remain as mesmerizing as they were when first printed. * Hyperallergic.com *