As a nation state, Italy has emerged only in 1871. Until then the country was politically divided into a large number of independant cities, provinces and islands. The currently available evidences point out to a dominant Etruscan, Greek and Roman cultural influence on today's Italians.
Not sure if this is the right location for this query - if not, excuse my ignorance
I have a picture of one of my Italian ancestors in the company of two women, I assume his mother and his aunt. I've been told that this picture is one of my great-great-grandfather, who was born in Pratola Serra in 1835.
I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that this couldn't possibly be him - as photography wasn't that common yet, and that it would be too expensive for the average Southern Italian family?
I tried researching based on fashion at the time - but led me nowhere.
Was this a print on paper or glass or metal? Paper, actually card, would didn't start until the 1850s. Any earlier would have been glass or tin. Despite this he looks 3-4 years old. Modern photography would just have been invented at that point (1839) and no one had it done, it was only scientific at that point.
THanks for the replay - I believe you're right. It is on paper, on a postcard - with "place stamp here" in English on the back.
Looking at some other family pictures I was just given, and observing faces etc (and armed with your advice) I believe that this is my grandfather (b. 1919).
Nowadays, very few Italian actors are able to emerge on the world cinema scene. Until a few decades ago it was different, but we talk about the age of the young Cinecittà, where it was not unusual to meet world-famous directors who set their stories which became known all over the world in those stu...
