ITALY FOREVER - 100 years lie between these photos

The Ponte Vecchio in Florence, a good 100 years ago and today

The longing for paradise. These (then) sensational photographs were taken a good 100 years ago. Italy in the past. The pictures show il bel paese as an enchanting dream world, as an open-air museum in eternal sunshine - at that time in colour for the first time.

Italy like in a film: where you not only feel like you're on holiday, but also in the cinema

The longing for Bella Italia: The coloured travel photographs are sold in large numbers at the time. Thanks to revolutionary Photocrom technology, black-and-white photos can now be shown in colour for the first time. Ever since the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe travelled through Italy at the end of the 18th century, Central Europe has been dreaming of the supposedly carefree Bella Vita in Bella Italia.

However, travel in summer was not recommended at the time. An Italy travel guide from 1908 says: "Nature is as beautiful as ever in summer, but the persistent heat of the sun can easily paralyse the strength of body and mind.

Tourism 100 years ago

antique photos, Italy 100 years ago — **The Vesuvius railway was a sensation: here around 1900**
*_{^{Photo: Collection Marc Walter, Paris}}*

The Vesuvius Railway near Naples was a tourist magnet at the time. It began operating in 1880. Until then, you could only climb Vesuvius on foot, by horse or mule. Those who had enough money could be transported the last stretch to the summit in a carrying chair.

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Venice, today and 100 years ago

Venice, Italy — **...and today. Not much has changed**
*^{_{Photo: JEANGILL/Getty Images Signature via canva.com}}*

"Such is Venice the beautiful, flattering and suspicious, legend and trap for strangers": Author Thomas Mann transfigured the lagoon city in his novella "Death in Venice". The photo shows the Grand Canal with the Rialto Bridge. Like all the others shown here, it was taken at the turn of the century. For the Germans Italy became a place of longing early on.

From 2023: Venice only with ticket

Spaghetti eating contest in Naples: Italy in the past

The sweet, wildly romantic life in Naples. At least that's how the photographs show it. People were rarely photographed at the time, and if they were, then in typecast depictions - like here at a supposedly carefree spaghetti eating contest. The southern Italian city is regularly glorified, especially by German literary figures. "See Naples and die," Goethe enthuses when he arrives in the city in 1787.

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The Italian Riviera: The Chapel of St. Ampelio in Bordighera

**A photo like a painting...**
*^{_{Photo: Collection Marc Walter, Paris}}*

Bordighera, Liguria — **...the chapel of Bordighera in Liguria today**
*^{_{Photo: luiginophoto/Getty Images via canva.com}}*

This scene in Bordighera, a seaside resort on the Ligurian Riviera, looks like it was painted. The Chiesa di Sant'Ampelio can be seen in the background. Saint Ampelius is said to have lived in a grotto on this spot in the 5th century. 100 years ago, there were hardly any other houses here; today, the coast is almost entirely built-up.

The Colourful Laundresses of Naples

This is how colourful and carefree the street life of the laundresses is in Naples in 1885. German writers in particular rave about the southern Italian city at this time. "See Naples and die," Goethe enthused when he arrived in the city in 1787. The historian Ferdinand Gregorovius wrote in 1853: "Nothing remains, everything flows, streams with a flood of life. One has no time and no space here."

The Silence of Assisi

Assisi, Basilica of San Francesco — **100 years ago: The globetrotter recovers in the church**
*^{_{Photo: Collection Marc Walter, Paris}}*

The photos on Instagram look just like they did back then: pensive traveller looking into the distance - 100 years ago, just like today. For centuries, Assisi in Umbria has been a place of pilgrimage for the Catholic Church. The birthplace and final resting place of St Francis and St Clare. The main times of travel to Assisi 100 years ago are autumn, winter and spring.

However, the photos have little to do with the harsh reality of life in Italy at that time. Rural idyll and wild romantic flair instead of mass emigration, poverty and hunger.

The photos are from the illustrated book "Italy around 1900" (author: Giovanni Fanelli, Taschen-Verlag 2018).

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