projects | exhibition
Sognando i corsari. Livorno and the sea in the Alinari Archives
The journey in the sea of Livorno metaphorically begins with the dimension of the dream. “Sognando i corsari (dreaming of corsairs)” is the title of a 1958 photograph by Michele Vestrini: a child sitting with his back on the balustrade of the Mascagni Terrace who seems to lose his thoughts in the grandeur of the open sea, in pirate adventures suggested by the sailing ship off the coast .
The apparent stillness of the subject takes us into the dimension of the imaginary, where there is space for meeting, exchanging, circulation of ideas and passions, typical characteristics of a city and a territory which, like that of Livorno, is intimately linked to its sea. Livorno is its sea, with the canals that cross it, reaching the heart of the city like pulsating arteries; with the ships and boats of its lively port, with the beauty of its coast and islands.
The exhibition recounts this bond by drawing on the vast heritage of images conserved in the Alinari Archives.
Exhibition produced byComune di Livorno
With the patronage ofRegione Toscana
Curated by Rita Scartoni, with the collaboration of Muriel Prandato
Exhibition venueMuseo della Città di Livorno - Polo culturale Bottini dell'Olio
Catalogue published bySillabe
The exhibition
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The link between the city of the 4 Moors and its sea is told through a century - between the 1800s and 1900s - of photographers and photographs belonging to the Alinari Archives.
From the daguerreotype depicting the Dogana D'Acqua attributed to Aristide Castelli, from the images of the first Tuscan photographic studio, opened in Livorno by Giuseppe Marzocchini in 1843, to the glimpses of Livorno by Ugo Bettini and the shipyards portrayed by the Betti-Borra studio; from the surprising hand-coloured slides by the Florentine scientist Giorgio Roster, to the shots of the seaside holidays by Aurelio Monteverde and Vincenzo Balocchi, up to the Alinari and Brogi photographic establishments and Bruno Miniati's photo shoot of the Italian Navy's school ship "Amerigo Vespucci".
Through the lens of photographers who, by profession or by passion, have lived, portrayed and even loved the city of Livorno, the exhibition displays bathing establishments and bathers, storm surges, various ships, divers, sailors, glimpses of the city. A journey of over a century, from 1845 up to the 1960s.
19th century photography in Livorno
Aristide Castelli (attr.), The Dogana d'Acqua in Livorno, ca. 1845, daguerreotype, image 8,8 x 11,9 cm, plate 8,7 x 12, original mounting 14,7 x 18 x 5 cm, Alinari Archives-Unicum collection, Florence
Riccardo Marzocchini, Ships in the port, Livorno, ca. 1870, albumen print, cabinet format, 10 x 14 cm (secondary support 11 x 16,5 cm), Alinari Archives-Betti Borra archive, Florence
Riccardo Marzocchini, Breaking wave, Livorno, ca. 1870, albumen print, cabinet format, 15 x 10 cm (secondary support 16,5 x 11 cm), Alinari Archives-Betti Borra archive, Florence
Riccardo Marzocchini, Breaking wave, Livorno, ca. 1870, albumen print, cabinet format, 10 x 15,5 cm (secondary support 11 x 16,5 cm), Alinari Archives-Betti Borra archive, Florence
Giorgio Enrico Levi, “Veduta presa a bordo del vapore Ajaccio aspettando l’ora della partenza per Bastia.”, Livorno, 4th January 1899, gelatine aristotype, 9 x 8 cm (secondary support 14 x 10 cm), Alinari Archives-Guidotti Levi archive, Florence
Ugo Bettini, “Livorno - Scali A. Saffi e Olandesi”, Livorno, ca. 1890, gelatine aristotype, 20,5 x 27 cm, Alinari Archives, Florence
Ugo Bettini, “Livorno - La Venezia”, Livorno, ca. 1890, gelatine aristotype, 21 x 26,5 cm, Alinari Archives, Florence
Nineteenth-century Livorno is told through the images of the first photographic studios of the city.
The oldest work on display is the Dogana d'Acqua, the only known daguerreotype with a view of Livorno as the subject. An inscription on the back of the plate bears the name of Aristide Castelli (Livorno, 1818 - Florence, 1879).
In a fin-de-siècle advertisement, the Marzocchini establishment was described as “the oldest photograph in Tuscany”. It seems that the daguerreotypist Giuseppe Marzocchini was active since 1843. His son Riccardo (Livorno, 1823 - 1910), who soon joined his father, shows us images of a city that dialogues with its sea, welcoming its placid waters or foamy waves, in a symbiosis that reads between the lines of an ancient story.
Passionate about photography, Baron Giorgio Enrico Levi (Alexandria in Egypt, 1849 - Reggello, 1936), chose Livorno "for the bathing season", confirming the city as an important seaside resort at the begining of the summer vacation tradition.
The Bettinis were a dynasty of photographers. Ugo Bettini (Bologna, 1843 - notizie about 1900), a skilled photographer, in 1899 became the first president of the Livorno section of the "Italian Photographic Society". His photographs display a city that appears balanced, composed, almost drawn, in the richness of details and nuances.
DISCOVER THE DAGUERREOTYPES ENHANCEMENT PROJECT
BROWSE THROUGH THE UNICUM COLLECTION OF THE ALINARI ARCHIVE
The Sea and the Islands by Giorgio Roster
Giorgio Roster, “Pianosa. Il porto il congresso degli zoologi.”, 1888, hand-coloured magic lantern glass slide, 9 x 8 cm, Alinari Archives- Roster archive, Florence
Giorgio Roster, “Miniere di Rio. Cantiere delle Falcaccie. Elba”, ca. 1900-1905, hand- coloured magic lantern glass slide, 9 x 8 cm, Alinari Archives- Roster archive, Florence
Giorgio Roster, “Le pietre rosse (ftaniti), Monte Grosso. Elba.”, 1902, hand-coloured magic lantern glass slide, 9 x 8 cm, Alinari Archives-Roster archive, Florence
Giorgio Roster, “Mare in burrasca Golfo di Portoferrajo.”, August 1892, hand-coloured magic lantern glass slide, 9 x 8 cm, Alinari Archives-Roster archive, Florence
Giorgio Roster, “Cima della fortezza Montecristo. Stazione geodetica.”, ca. 1890-1910, hand-coloured magic lantern glass slide, 9 x 8 cm, Alinari Archives-Roster archive, Florence
Giorgio Roster, “Tramonto. Portoferrajo”, ca. 1900-1905, hand-coloured magic lantern glass slide, 9 x 8 cm, Alinari Archives-Roster archive, Florence
These images are the fruit of Giorgio Roster's (Florence, 1843 - 1927) stays in his villa on the island of Elba, the "Ottonella", where the scientist, starting in 1875, spent long summers.
Between 1893 and 1895 he made a series of telephotographs to document the island of Elba. In these images, the mines of Rio, the excavation of tuff at Viticcio, the coast of Monte Grosso, the geodetic station at the fortress of the island of Montecristo reveal the mineralogical composition of these lands.
There are also landscapes shot from the sea, where the weather variations are reflected in the marine horizons and capture the attention, both scientific and aesthetic, of the photographer-scientist who, to fill the absence of color, intervenes with a manual coloring on the glass slides.
DISCOVER THE GIORGIO ROSTER ARCHIVE
The great photographers and publishers: Alinari and Brogi
Fratelli Alinari, Ballerina's cliff in Antignano, before 1908, silver gelatin dry glass plate negative, 21 x 27 cm, Alinari Archives-Alinari archive, Florence
Fratelli Alinari, The port of Castiglioncello, before 1908, silver gelatin dry glass plate negative, 21 x 27 cm, Alinari Archives-Alinari archive, Florence
Fratelli Alinari, The Fortezza Vecchia with the Mastio di Matilde in Livorno, before 1927, silver gelatin dry glass plate negative, 27 x 21 cm, Alinari Archives-Alinari archive, Florence
Fratelli Alinari, The Calafuria Tower in in the stretch of coast between Antignano and Quercianella, before 1908, silver gelatin dry glass plate negative, 21 x 27 cm, Alinari Archives-Alinari archive, Florence
Stabilimento Giacomo Brogi, View of the lighthouse and the Molo Novo in the port of Livorno, before 1907, silver gelatin dry glass plate negative, 21 x 27 cm, Alinari Archives-Brogi archive, Florence
The technical and compositional expertise of the Alinaris has given us an iconic, immutable and eternal image of Livorno, of the city's monuments such as the Mastio della Fortezza, as well as the port, the Torre di Calafuria, and the rocks of Antignano.
The images on display refer to the first decades of the twentieth century, when it was Vittorio (Florence, 1859 - 1932), son of the founder Leopoldo Alinari (Florence, 1832 - 1865), who ran the company.
The images of the Brogi photographic establishment open up like sweeping views over the city. Embracing the vast and industrious port spaces teeming with activity, the New Pier which marks the border between the sky and the sea on the city horizon, the unfurled sails, the daily comings and goings.
Livorno is dynamic, industrious, defined by its incessant movement and by the nascent modernity which, at the end of the 19th century, would change its aspect.
The Livorno of Luigi Betti and Giuseppe Borra
Foto Betti (Giuseppe Borra), Propeller on a Truck Trailer in front of the Luigi Orlando shipyard of Ansaldo in Livorno, ca. 1950-1960, gelatin silver print, 18 x 23,5 cm, Alinari Archives-Betti Borra archive, Florence
Foto Betti (Giuseppe Borra), Terrazza Mascagni with a ship in distance, Livorno, after 1940 - before 1943, gelatin silver print, 13 x 18 cm, Alinari Archives-Betti Borra archive, Florence
Luigi Betti (attr.), Shipbuilding, Livorno, ca. 1935-1940, gelatin silver print, 17,5 x 23,5 cm, Alinari Archives-Betti Borra archive, Florence
Foto Betti (Giuseppe Borra attr.), A racing car embarks on a ferry, Livorno, after 1957, gelatin silver print, 21 x 25,5 cm, Alinari Archives-Betti Borra archive, Florence
Foto Betti (Giuseppe Borra), Cadets of the Naval Academy, Livorno, ca. 1950, gelatin silver print, 24 x 18 cm, Alinari Archives-Betti Borra archive, Florence
Foto Betti (Giuseppe Borra), Cadets of the Naval Academy in Via Cairoli, Livorno, ca. 1945-1950, gelatin silver print, 18 x 24 cm, Alinari Archives-Betti Borra archive, Florence
Luigi Betti (attr.), Woman with a child on the Ponte alla Sassaia, Livorno, before 1944, gelatin silver print, 30 x 40 cm, Alinari Archives-Betti Borra archive, Florence
Luigi Betti (Livorno, 1881 - 1941) and Giuseppe Borra (Livorno, 1905 - 1987) were able to capture and give us back through their shots the multiple faces of the city. On the one hand, modern industry, as vigorous as steel, with its shipyards, the sheen of the metals, the dynamism of the machines, the sinuous geometry of the propellers. On the other hand, the silent views, the peaceful stillness of the immobile stretches of water, a source of intense poetry.
And they told us about its people: the young cadets who candidly look out over the world, the families out for a walk, with the children holding hands, the idle men at a slow pace along the streets.
In the first half of the twentieth century, the Betti Borra studio made a great contribution to the documentation and narration of city life, through news, landscape and industrial photographs, but also portraiture and art reproductions.
The "Amerigo Vespucci" and the Naval Academy in the eyes of Bruno Miniati
Bruno Miniati, “Regia Nave Scuola «Amerigo Vespucci»”, ca. 1938, gelatin silver print, 23 x 17cm (secondary support 34 x 33 cm), Alinari Archives-Miniati archive, Florence
Bruno Miniati, “Regia Nave Scuola «Amerigo Vespucci»”, ca. 1938, gelatin silver print, 23 x 17 cm (secondary support 34 x 33 cm), Alinari Archives-Miniati archive, Florence
Bruno Miniati, “Regia Nave Scuola «Amerigo Vespucci»”, ca. 1938, gelatin silver print, 23 x 17 cm (secondary support 34 x 33 cm), Alinari Archives-Miniati archive, Florence
Bruno Miniati, “Regia Nave Scuola «Amerigo Vespucci»”, ca. 1938, gelatin silver print, 23 x 17cm (secondary support 34 x 33 cm), Alinari Archives-Miniati archive, Florence
The Miniati archive allows us to retrace the history of photography in Livorno, the tight knot that binds the city, its people and the sea.
Military photographer, Bruno Miniati (Livorno, 1889 - 1974) documented numerous war campaigns and created high-impact images of the school ship "Amerigo Vespucci", in which lines, gestures, waves and wind intertwine in a harmonic dialogue of impeccable compositions.
The holidays: Aurelio Monteverde
Aurelio Monteverde, Woman sunbathing, Procchio, Elba Island, September 1930, silver gelatin dry glass plate negative, 9 x 12 cm, Alinari Archives-Monteverde archive, Florence
Aurelio Monteverde, Holiday on the Elba Island: a couple of girls posing on a rock, Biodola, 1924, silver gelatin dry glass plate negative, 9 x 12 cm, Alinari Archives-Monteverde archive, Florence
Aurelio Monteverde, Girls photographed on a docking platform for boats, Portoferraio, Elba Island, 22nd July 1923, silver gelatin dry glass plate negative, 9 x 12 cm, Alinari Archives-Monteverde archive, Florence
Aurelio Monteverde, Girls on the beach, Seccheto, Elba Island, 24th July 1930, silver gelatin dry glass plate negative, 9 x 12 cm, Alinari Archives-Monteverde archive, Florence
Aurelio Monteverde, Water skiing on the Elba Island, September 1924, silver gelatin dry glass plate negative, 9 x 12 cm, Alinari Archives-Monteverde archive, Florence
Aurelio Monteverde (Rome, 1872 - Florence?, 1934) is not a professional photographer. But he has a great passion for photography. And for boat trips, walks in the pine forest, games on the beach. Together with his family and his friends he dedicates himself to exuberant and worldly pastimes, mixing glamorous taste with the carefree playfulness of gestures.
We can appreciate the elegant and discreet "swimwear" against the background of an extraordinary and uncontaminated landscape. Looking at these photographs of holidays on Elba in the 1920s and 1930s, we capture all the joy and sunshine of these summer days: the beginnings of what would spread in the years to come as mass seaside tourism.
The holidays: Vincenzo Balocchi
Vincenzo Balocchi, Cecina beach, April 1961, silver gelatin cellulose acetate film in colour, 6 x 6 cm, Alinari Archives-Balocchi archive, Florence
Vincenzo Balocchi, Drying tomatoes on the facade of a house in Cecina, September 1962, silver gelatin cellulose acetate film in colour, 6 x 6 cm, Alinari Archives-Balocchi archive, Florence
Vincenzo Balocchi, Cecina beach, September 1962, silver gelatin cellulose acetate film in colour, 6 x 6 cm, Alinari Archives-Balocchi archive, Florence
Vincenzo Balocchi, Bathing cabins on a jetty, Cecina, September 1962, silver gelatin cellulose acetate film in colour, 6 x 6 cm, Alinari Archives-Balocchi archive, Florence
Instead of facing the immense vastness of the sea, Vincenzo Balocchi (Florence, 1892 - 1975) directs his glance elsewhere, on an encrusted wall, on the lines traced by the shadows. The objects are transformed into graphic lines and the details, often insignificant, monopolize the shot and become intangible.
In the search for detail, the perspective vision disappears and even the landscapes become two-dimensional. The world breaks up into fragments, into a play of colours, even improbable ones. The shapes take on a new, aesthetic and often abstract value.
The author gives us images that go beyond the places represented, like visual suggestions that transport us elsewhere.
The restoration of the "Lepanto"
The exhibition has been an opportunity to restore numerous pieces, among which the most important was the restoration of the large format gelatin silver print by Ugo Bettini, which immortalizes the launch of the ship "Lepanto" which took place in 1883.
The intervention envisaged a mechanical cleaning of the front and back of the work, a localized treatment of stains and the controlled humidification. Then the deformations were smoothed out under weight.
Subsequently the reversible pictorial retouching was performed with dry techniques.
Lastly, the passe-partout window was reassembled and the frame was consolidated.
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