The Photography Legends That Explored 20th Century Abruzzo

Our handy list of Italian and international 20th-century photographers who explored and captured Abruzzo so perfectly through their lens and the books to find their work where possible.

“The lens showed Scanno’s women as queens, living classical sculptures, who retain their individuality, but at the same time become icons”

Of course, artists never stopped painting Abruzzo, but as photography and cameras developed in the 19th century, the trend of less art and more photos began. At the turn of the century, members of the British School at Rome were interested in the historic and archaeological sites of the region. For Ashby and his associates, the camera was an important device to capture their finds. But they were also interested in the strong traditions of Abruzzo, something that had already disappeared in much of Europe. They felt it was their job to capture this too.

In the 1920s we see an artistic element coming into play with the beautiful pictures of Angelo Vetta, these images are not captured for science or history, but to express something of the people and their lives. As the decades roll on, we see many photographs made for guide books that remain clinical but accurate, and also the development of the artistic side of the craft.

Hilde Lotz-Bauer leads a stream of others (many of them more famous than her) to Scanno to catch a lost world with their lenses. People hone the art of ‘catching the moment’ and by the 60s & 70s we are seeing pictures by the likes of Pepi Merisio and Norman Carver that convey strong emotion as well as representing the people and places of Abruzzo. All this before the digital camera had been invented…

Peter Paul Mackey (1851-1935)

– Photo Date 1896

– Magliano de Marsi and Monte Velino

Thomas Ashby : Viaggi in Abruzzo 1901/1923, BUY THE BOOK

William Harrison Woodward (1856-1941)

– Photo Date 1908

– Women of Scanno on the Way Home From Pratola Peligna

Thomas Ashby : Viaggi in Abruzzo 1901/1923, BUY THE BOOK

Thomas Ashby (1847 – 1931)

– Photo Date 1909

– The Livestock Market, L’Aquila

Thomas Ashby : Viaggi in Abruzzo 1901/1923, BUY THE BOOK

Angelo Vetta (1885 – 1954)

– Photo Date 1920s

– Monelli Abbruzzesi

Abruzzo e Molise by Vincenzo Balzano, 1927, BUY THE BOOK