When photography emerged in the 19th century to illustrate the dreams of frozen northern lights about Italy as, depending on perspective, an immortal art land of rediscovered antiquity or a blissful natural landscape, replacing the vedute painter and the personal sketchbook, Italy was still an agrarian state. Only in 1861, after a series of uprisings and wars, was it united into a nation from a patchwork of principalities and small states. The country struggled with industrialization, which was largely limited to the greater Milan, Turin, and Genoa areas. Of 30 million inhabitants, only about 400,000 were industrial workers in 1880.

The numerous travelers from France, England, Germany, or the USA—the mass tourism was just about to take over the legacy of the Grand Tour and Romanticism—encountered a population still largely bound by centuries-old traditionalism, seemingly untouched landscapes like the picturesque Lago Maggiore with its impressive mountain backdrop, the Ligurian coast, or the lonely Campagna, and cities such as Venice, Florence, Bologna, Milan, Rome, which appeared strangely detached and dreamily empty.

Like travel reports from past centuries, the photographs in this volume invite a journey of discovery through time. They follow the classic sightseeing route of art-conscious travelers to Italy but also focus on the social reality in the shadow of monuments and sights. A historical panorama that will captivate not only devoted Italy fans.