Italy Photo Archives - LIFE

Mysterious Italy: The Mummies of Venzone

Bill Syken — Thu, 10 Oct 2024 16:49:11 +0000

One of the stranger photosets in the LIFE archives was shot in a bucolic small town in Northern Italy—one in which the ancient architecture was not the only thing that was well-preserved.

The town’s name is Venzone, and among its claims to fame are a collection of mummified remains that date back as far as the 14th century, when a time of plague led to some bodies being kept in a church basement, where they mummified naturally. No one knows for certain why these bodies became mummified, though speculation centers on the presence of limestone and certain fungi in the basement.

But what is particularly interesting is not just that these mummies existed, but how the local townsfolk regarded them. Rather than being freaked out by these figures that would become horror movie staples, the townsfolk decided to celebrate the mummies as a connection to their own ancestry.

Here’s what the website Weird Italy had to say about the mummies of Venzone:

The residents thought that God had sent their forefathers to guard the village while still living (since they were unaware of the term “mummy” at the time). Then the locals wished the mummies luck and begged for assistance with any difficulties. As the village’s elders, the mummies were accorded excellent treatment. And this custom persisted up until 1950. The townspeople had to value the mummies as their forefathers.

The photos by LIFE’s Jack Birns capture the warm relations between the townsfolk and their mummified ancestors as they pose for photos together. Birns also photographed a museum where some of the mummies were on display. The ancestors are no longer paraded around town like they once were, but the museum remains open today, with five of the mummies available for viewing.

View of the Cathedral of Saint Andrew the Apostle and the village of Venzone in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy, September 1950.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A man posed for a portrait with one of the mummified bodies displayed in the Cemetery Chapel of Saint Michael on the grounds of the Cathedral of Saint Andrew the Apostle in Venzone, Italy, September 1950.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Locals in Venzone, Italy, 1950, pose with the mummified bodies that had been found years before in the crypt of a church there.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A local woman held up one of the natural mummies found in the crypts under the Cathedral of Saint Andrew the Apostle in Venzone, Italy, September 1950. The mummified bodies date from 1348 to 1881.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A man in Venzone, Italy, 1950, poses with a mummified body, one of many found in the crypt of the local church.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A priest held up one of the natural mummies found in the crypts under the Cathedral of Saint Andrew the Apostle in Venzone, Italy, September 1950. The mummified bodies date from 1348 to 1881.

Venzonea Skeletons

The townspeople of Venzone, Italy, posed with their mummified ancestors, 1950.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Local boys carried the natural mummies found in the crypts under the Cathedral of Saint Andrew the Apostle in Venzone, Italy, back into the crypt museum, September 1950. The mummified bodies date from 1348 to 1881.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Monsignor Simeone Guglielmi stood above the opening to one of the burial vaults under the Cathedral of Saint Andrew the Apostle in Venzone, Italy, September 1950. When the crypts were being relocated, the citizens of Venzone discovered that several of the bodies interred there had been naturally mummified.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The museum inside of the rotunda of Saint Michael displayed the natural mummies found in the crypts beneath the Cathedral of Saint Andrew the Apostle in Venzone, Italy, September 1950. The mummified bodies date from 1348 to 1881.

Jack Birns/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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Eisenstaedt in Postwar Italy (and Yes, That’s Pasta)

Bill Syken — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 15:22:28 +0000

Some individuals are blessed enough to look beautiful even when they’re having a bad hair day. That was, in a sense, Italy on a grand scale in 1947. The country was coming out of World War II and 18 years of the rule of dictator Benito Mussolini. A LIFE story surveyed the postwar Italian landscape and fretted that the country was “on the brink of Communist revolution.”

That revolution didn’t happen, but still, Italy—birthplace of the Renaissance—had seen better days.

For its 1947 story LIFE sent staff photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt on a tour of the country, and many of his pictures documented scenes of distress, with Italians doing their best to carry on amid bombed out buildings.

But even its those hard times Italy still looked beautiful, and Eisenstaedt even captured livelier scenes, most of which did not make it into the magazine. Eisenstadt photographed a packed La Scala opera house in Milan, American sailors enjoying the Piazza San Marco in Venice, and people at work in pasta factories and Tuscan wineries.

And LIFE’s generally dire account of the Italy did acknowledge that, amid the political unrest and troubling poverty, there were still tourists visiting and good times to be had:

“….with her surging vitality, Italy is showing signs of recovery. In her delightful restaurants the tourist can choose from among countless delicacies, though most Italians still do not get enough to eat. In her factories the production lines are running again….Even among venerable remains of past glory, transformed into modern rubble by the war, scholars are working to change the ruins back to their original state. Slowly, painfully, Italy is trying to rebuild herself.”

Eisenstaedt ranged widely during his tour of Italy, capturing images in Rome, Venice, Siena, Naples, Milan and more, venturing from tony resorts to struggling regions where the difficulties are plain to see. One of the shots that captures the mix well shows children playing amid the ruins of the Theatre of Marcellus, broken and magnificent all at once.

LIFE’s plaintive final note to its story was: “For sensitive people with an abiding lust for life, the Italians’ tragedy today is that they have never learned to govern themselves.”

Young men working in a pasta factory carried rods of pasta to drying rooms, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Young men carrying rods of pasta for drying, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Man hanging pasta noodles, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life PIcture Collection/Shutterstock

An Italian boy stood on top of a US Army tank left on the edge of the beach at Salerno, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The La Scala Opera House in Milan was at capacity for a performance conducted by Antonio Pedrotti, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A cellarman at Giannino’s handed a bottle of wine to a waiter; the cellar had about 1,500 different wines and liqueurs. Chianti flasks were in the foreground, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Chianti flasks in storeroom of the Baron Ricasoli vineyards in Siena, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Men fishing near the bridge in Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The archway was all that remained in 1947 of a block of buildings near the main plaza of an Italian city that was heavily bombed during World War II.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Children played among the ruins of the Temple of Apollo. In background, the Palazzo Sermoneta, built atop the centuries-old ruins of Caesar’s Theater of Marcellus in Rome. 1947..

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Naples, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Workers in an olive grove south of Monopoli took a siesta after lunch under a favorite tree, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Shoeshine boys in slum neighborhood near the waterfront in postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A woman carried a tray of dough on her head through street of hilltop town in postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Two American sailors in the Piazza San Marco in Venice, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Beside damaged statues of the Monte Cassino Abbey, a lay brother made sketches that were to aid in the restoration process, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Women worked at a fabric factory in Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Newsstand, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Customers buying bread in the streets in Naples, Italy, in 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Women sewed outside their Trulli homes. Trulli are made from limestone boulders and feature conical or domed roofs. Roofs of Trulli are painted with signs to ward off evil. Italy, 1947.

.Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Two women passed by a wayside shrine near Castellamare, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Laundry hanging in main square of Burano, Venice, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Portrait of a woman standing near a ruins, Italy, 1947

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Postwar Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

People relaxed at a swimming pool in a resort in Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A woman in heeled sandals, Italy, 1947.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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Vintage Venice, In and Out of Season

Bill Syken — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 15:17:52 +0000

The ancient city of Venice draws 30 million visitors a year, and for good reason. The canals, the architecture, the art, the food, the singular beauty—there’s no place in the world like it. The city’s only drawback, you could argue, is its popularity with tourists (and the many, many shops that cater to them).

LIFE photographers ventured to this picturesque city many times for many reasons—popping in on Peggy Guggenheim, for example—but this story is built off two shoots by Dmitri Kessel. Both were done in the 1950s, and they are very different. Kessel shot Venice in 1959 during the peak of summer with a focus on the American tourists who thronged there, and the other shoot was done in 1952, in winter, when the streets were largely empty and also flooded in areas, as tends to happen that time of year.

The moods could not be more different. During the summer a navy of gondoliers rule the waterways and visitors fill Piazza San Marco, or St. Mark’s Square, while in the winter those boats are all tied up. The two constants are the stunning architecture and the pigeons. Even in the winter, a local woman finds the time to give the birds a little attention.

The real message of this shoots is that Venice is beautiful in every circumstance.

American tourists sightseeing in Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American tourists in Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American tourists in a gondola in Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Tourists in a gondolas, Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Americans in Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American tourists in Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American tourists gathering in Saint Mark’s Square in Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American tourists in Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American tourists in a gondola, Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American tourists in Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Venice, Italy, 1959.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Moored gondolas on a foggy Grand Canal in Venice, 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Doge’s Palace on a rainy day in the Piazza San Marco in Venice, 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Pedestrians threading their way along makeshift wooden sidewalk across a flooded Piazza San Marco during its usual winter condition, 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A flooded Venice, Italy in the winter of 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Moored gondola on Grand Canal in front of Piazza San Marco during off-season in Venice, 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Moored gondolas in canal that runs between ancient buildings of Venice, 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The flooded Piazza San Marco during off-season in Venice, Italy, 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Venice, Italy during off-season, 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A local woman fed the pigeons in the Piazza San Marco on a rainy day, 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Pigeons flocking above pedestrians crossing Piazza San Marco on a rainy Venice day, 1952.

Dmitri Kessel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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When Scooters Became the Cool Way to Go

Bill Syken — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 14:09:41 +0000

The most popular kind of scooter these days may be the standing electric scooter, which is seeing a boost in popularity because it provides the solution to a host of modern problems. Those standing scooters are an efficient way to make short trips around town without having to worry about either the environmental effects or the costs of gas usage, or the COVID concerns of riding public transportation. Scooters also aren’t a parking problem, especially if you live in one of the many cities with a scooter-sharing program.

The days after World War II saw the rise of a different kind of scooter—the kind that is more closely related to the motorcycle. (If you wish people would stop calling so many different two-wheeled modes of transportation “scooters” you are not alone). The scooters that took off in the post-war years have this in common with e-scooters: their burst in popularity was tied to the societal shifts of its day.

In Italy after World War II, the Vespa turned out to be the perfect vehicle for a war-torn country with bumpy roads and a bumpier economy. The Vespas were also fun and fashionable: in the great 1953 romantic comedy Roman Holiday, Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn had their day to remember as they scooted around town on a Vespa.

In the United States people also showed an affinity for this young form of two-wheeled travel, owing to a surplus of motorbikes being decommissioned by the army after the war, and also the former troops who rode in groups to reclaim some of the camaraderie of their service days.

LIFE photographers captured the rise of scooter culture on both sides on the Atlantic. In 1945 as the war was nearing its end, Wallace Kirkland documented the Cushman Motor Works in Nebraska, showing both the plant where scooters were made and also the locals enjoying their products. In Italy in 1948 Dmitri Kessel photographed people on Vespas for an essay on Europe coming back to life after the war.

Those motor scooters have been on the decline in popularity in recent years as electric sales surge. But when they had their moment, it sure looked fun.

Vespa riders in Italy, 1948.

Dmitri Kessel/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Mother and baby rode a Vespa scooter in Italy, 1948.

Dmitiri Kessel/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A police officer directed scooter traffic in Italy, 1948.

Dmitri Kessel/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A scooter rider and a cyclist chatted on the street in Italy, 1948.

Dmitri Kessel/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A parking lot for Vespa scooters in Italy, 1948.

Dmitri Kessel/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Nebraska was a center of scooter production in America, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Outside the Cushman Motor Works scooter plant in Nebraska, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Inside the Cushman Motor Works scooter plant, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A scooter enthusiast in Nebraska, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scooter enthusiasts in Nebraska, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scooter riders in Nebraska, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Scooter enthusiasts in Nebraska, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A scooter rider in Nebraska, 1945.

Wallace Kirkland/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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LIFE’s Ode to the Men of Italy

Bill Syken — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 15:29:11 +0000

In its Aug. 23, 1963 issue, which featured Frank Sinatra and Frank Sinatra Jr. on the cover, LIFE decided to pay homage to the men of Italy. The story presented photos of men in a variety of situations and circumstances—a father giving away a bride, a farmer tending his goats, workmen on a lunch break, a mountaineer reaching a summit, a goofball clowning on the beach.

This tribute to the Italian male began with these words:

In whatever he does, from quietly combing the hair of a girl friend to loudly showing off at the swimming pool, the Italian man is the most natural of men. His spontaneity and his self-confidence are unequalled. He knows the girl will sigh with bliss, that there will be water under him when he comes down. He treats fleeting moments as if they were the most important in his life—because they are. As his country—and his spirits revived, the world has become better acquainted and even fascinated with his engaging qualities. For his candid enthusiasm and sensuality have helped fill the world with music and art, laughter and love and a particular kind of triumphant masculinity.

While making generalizations—even positive ones—about the male population of an entire country can be a dubious enterprise, in this case the idea is justified by the results, which are outstanding. The photos for the essay were taken by Paul Schutzer, a prodigal talent who became a LIFE staff photographer at the age of 26, and whose most famous images came from the big stages of history; Schutzer would die while on assignment in a combat zone, covering the Six-Day War in 1967.

But in his essay on the Italian man, it’s clear how much he was inspired by the opportunity to capture something about everyday life. Look at this run of pictures and you can practically hear Paul Schutzer saying “Oh, that guy is amazing. And that one. And that one.” Over and over and over. The original essay ran for six pages in magazine, but Schutzer took thousands of frames, enough to fill an encyclopedia. Roaming the cities and the countryside of Italy, he couldn’t stop shooting—which is as true a form a tribute as can be.

A man combed a woman’s hair, Italy, 1963.

Paul Schutzer/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

From an essay on the Italian man, 1963.

Paul Schutzer/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

From an essay on the Italian male, 1963.

Paul Schutzer/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

From an essay on the Italian man, 1963.

Paul Schutzer/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Photo essay on the men of Italy, 1963.

Paul Schutzer/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

From an essay on the Italian male, 1963.

Paul Schutzer/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

From an essay on the Italian man, 1963.

Paul Schutzer/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A father, soon to be overcome by emotion (see next photo), walked his daughter down the aisle.

Paul Schutzer/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A father broke down while walking his daughter down the wedding aisle.

Paul Schutzer/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

From an essay on the Italian male, 1963.

Paul Schutzer/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A farmer tended his goats, from an essay on the Italian male, 1963.

Paul Schutzer/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

From an essay on the Italian male, 1963.

Paul Schutzer/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

An Italian mountain climber lifted his hat in salute after reaching a mountaintop, 1963.

.Paul Schutzer/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

From an essay on the Italian male, 1963.

Paul Schutzer/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

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Florence, A Marvel Of Enduring Power

resolute — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 17:18:27 +0000

Millions of tourists each year come to stroll the stone walkways of Florence, where the Italian Renaissance echoes around the beautifully preserved city center. The art and architecture have dazzled visitors for more than 500 years. But during the 20^th century history’s boot stepped hard on Florence, as it endured fascism and also a historic flood.

In 1935 LIFE photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt visited Florence and captured the beauty of the city, with views of monks walking along the Arno river and a cat finding quiet on one of the city’s narrow streets

Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

In May 1938, with fascists taking over Europe, Adolph Hitler made an official state visit to Florence, as part of a tour that included Naples and Rome. He rode with Italian prime minister Benito Mussolini as he toured Florence. in a work called “Hitlerian Spring” the Italian poet Eugenio Montale wrote of the visit: “Not long ago on the main street an infernal messenger flew.”

Photo by Hugo Jaeger/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

American soldiers came Europe to beat back the forces of fascism, and on January 1, 1945, the military decided to stage American-style football bowl games around the world to build troop morale. Florence was the site of the Spaghetti Bowl at Berta Stadium in Florence, with an estimated 20,000 in attendance. The day began with college-style pageantry, and the game was won by the Fifth Army, which shut out the 12^th Air Force by a score of 20-0.

Photo by Margaret Bourke-White/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

Margaret Bourke-White/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

In 1966 Florence experienced its worst flooding in four centuries as heavy rains caused the Arno to overflow its banks. Here Michelangelo’s David stood tall on his pedestal as floodwaters reached the Accademia Gallery. The painting “Christ and the Wife of Zebedee” by Florentine artist Matteo Rosselli (1578-1650) was carried to safety. A fresco by Paolo Ucello was removed from the Church of Santa Maria Novello for restoration.

Photo by David Lees/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

Restorers worked on the 14^th century fresco The Last Supper by Taddeo Gaddi at the Basilica of Santa Croce. The work required to repair flood damage to Florence’s historic art is said to have spurred advancements in the field of art restoration. Restorers and their supporters were dubbed “mud angels.”

Photo by David Lees/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

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