Tuinen van Villa Poggio Reale, Napels 1857 - 1888

Giorgio Sommer made this albumen print of the Tuinen van Villa Poggio Reale in Naples. The image encapsulates the allure of Naples as a destination, a place of leisure and beauty. Sommer’s choice of subject is telling. We see the gardens, but more than that, we see the people enjoying them. The wide avenue, filled with promenading figures and horse-drawn carriages, suggests a vibrant public space. Naples in this period was undergoing significant urban development, and the Villa Reale, as it was known, became a symbol of civic pride. The photograph's composition reinforces this. The eye is drawn along the avenue towards the distant city and the sea, integrating the gardens into the broader urban fabric. It’s an idealized vision, of course, one that perhaps glosses over the social inequalities of the time. But it speaks to the aspirations of a city eager to present itself as modern and cosmopolitan. To understand this image fully, we need to delve into the social and economic history of Naples in the 19th century. Through city archives, newspapers, and other period documents, we can get a clearer sense of the forces that shaped not only the city but also the images it produced of itself.