Gezicht op het dorp Innichen, Italië 1860 - 1867

Carl Alexander Czichna made this photograph, entitled 'Gezicht op het dorp Innichen, Italië' using an unknown process. Images such as these were made and sold as souvenirs, particularly to tourists, in the middle decades of the 19th century. Innichen, or San Candido as it is now known, sits in the Dolomite Alps, an area whose towering peaks were becoming an increasingly popular destination for travellers at this time. The buildings are dwarfed in scale by the landscape that surrounds them. The photograph makes clear that the natural world has a power and grandeur beyond anything made by human hands. We can understand the role of photography in creating an idea of what constitutes the picturesque and how this idea could be used to further economic or social goals. Historians might look to similar tourist photographs and guidebooks to more fully understand how this area of Italy was being promoted at this time.