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ROAD TRIPS, RAIL JOURNEYS AND LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOLOGY: RECONSTRUCTING RESEARCH ITINERARIES AND TRAVEL EXCURSIONS IN ITALY THROUGH THE BRITISH SCHOOL AT ROME'S PHOTOGRAPHIC COLLECTIONS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2022

Janet Wade  and
Alessandra Giovenco
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Abstract

This article highlights the importance of photography for landscape archaeology and topographical studies in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and explores the value of photographic collections for the reconstruction of research itineraries and reconnaissance excursions in this period. Photographs held at the British School at Rome are utilized to demonstrate the ways in which collections of images can be used to retrace and chronicle the historical paths and itineraries of early researchers in Italy. Several journeys involving pioneers in both topographical studies and the use of photography for landscape archaeology in Italy are discussed. The photographs taken by amateur photographers on these excursions are important visual records of the Italian countryside and its monuments. These images are cultural artefacts themselves and they demonstrate what was still accessible to scholars and archaeologists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The historical paths and itineraries of these trailblazers, and the visual and textual records they produced, are now an integral part of the history of topographical studies, landscape archaeology and the Roman roads and countryside of Italy. Through photographs, this article retraces the paths of several of these pioneers and brings their historical journeys to life.

Questo articolo evidenzia la rilevanza della fotografia per l'archeologia del paesaggio e gli studi topografici a cavallo tra il XIX secolo e il XX secolo, ed esamina l'importanza delle collezioni fotografiche nella ricostruzione dei percorsi di ricerca e dei viaggi di ricognizione intrapresi in questo periodo. Le fotografie conservate alla British School at Rome sono utilizzate per dimostrare le modalità in cui le collezioni di immagini possono essere usate per ripercorrere e registrare cronologicamente i percorsi storici e gli itinerari di studio dei primi ricercatori in Italia. Vengono discussi diversi percorsi esplorativi che coinvolgono quelli che possono essere considerati dei veri e propri precursori sia negli studi topografici che nell'utilizzo della fotografia per l'archeologia del paesaggio in Italia. Le fotografie, scattate durante queste escursioni da fotografi non professionisti, costituiscono una significativa testimonianza visiva del paesaggio rurale italiano e dei suoi monumenti. Tali immagini sono esse stesse ‘oggetti culturali’, e mostrano cosa fosse ancora accessibile a studiosi e archeologi nel passaggio tra il XIX e il XX secolo. I percorsi storici e gli itinerari di questi innovatori, la documentazione visiva e testuale che hanno prodotto, sono adesso parte integrante della storia degli studi topografici, dell'archeologia del paesaggio, delle antiche strade romane e della campagna italiana. Attraverso la fotografia, questo articolo ricostruisce i tragitti di questi pionieri riportandone alla luce le loro storiche esperienze di viaggio.

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Articles
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Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 90 , October 2022 , pp. 297 - 324
Copyright
Copyright © British School at Rome 2022

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References

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Fell, R.A.L. (1924) Etruria and Rome. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
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Giovenco, A. and Scott, V. (2012) L'archivio fotografico della British School at Rome e il materiale di Thomas Ashby e Robert Gardner. In Ceraudo, G. (ed.), Lungo l'Appia e la Traiana: le fotografie di Robert Gardner in viaggio con Thomas Ashby nel territorio di Beneventum agli inizi del Novecento. British School at Rome Archive 10. Rome, Delta 3: 15–18.Google Scholar
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Hodges, R. (2000) Visions of Rome: Thomas Ashby Archaeologist. Rome and London, The British School at Rome.Google Scholar
Laurence, R. (2012) Roman Archaeology for Historians. London/New York, Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Pera Buranelli, S. and Turchetti, R. (2003) (eds), Sulla Via Appia da Roma a Brindisi. Le fotografie di Thomas Ashby 1891–1925. Rome, L'Erma di Bretschneider.Google Scholar
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Messineo, G. (1991) La Via Flaminia. Da Porta del Popolo a Malborghetto . Rome, Quasar.Google Scholar
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Messineo, G. and Carbonara, A. (1993) Via Flaminia. Rome, Istituto poligrafico e zecca dello Stato.Google Scholar
Ryan, J.R. (2013) Photography and Exploration. London, Reaktion Books.Google Scholar
Smith, A.H. (1932) Thomas Ashby 1874–1931. Proceedings of the British Academy XVII: 1–29.Google Scholar
Smith, C. (2011) Foreword. In Trodone, V. (ed.), Thomas Ashby: Viaggi in Abruzzo 1901/1923: 11–12. British School at Rome Archive 9. Milan, Silvan.Google Scholar
Smith, C. (2018) J.B. Ward-Perkins, the BSR and the landscape tradition in post-war Italian archaeology. Papers of the British School at Rome 86: 271–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewart, L.S. (2005) In perfect order: Antiquity in the daguerrotypes of Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey. In Lyons, C.L., Papadopoulos, J.K., Stewart, L.S. and Szegedy-Maszak, A. (eds), Antiquity and Photography: Early Views of Ancient Mediterranean Sites: 66–93. Los Angeles, Getty Publications.Google Scholar
Tomasetti, F. (1927) Scrittori contemporanei di cose romane: Thomas Ashby. Archivio della R. Società Romana di Storia Patria 50: 75–121.Google Scholar
Toynbee, A.J. (1965) Hannibal's Legacy: The Hannibalic War's Effect on Roman Life. London, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Vistoli, F. (2010) La via Flaminia non più “devia spinis et terra alte obruta”. Due casi esemplari: gli horti di Ovidio e il mausoleo di Tor di Quinto. In Vistoli, F. (ed.), La riscoperta della via Flaminia più vicina a Roma: storia, luoghi, personaggi: 49–111. Rome, Nuova Cultura.Google Scholar
Wade, J. (2022) Expeditions from Rome: Thomas Ashby, his BSR companions and the Roman roads of Italy. Papers of the British School at Rome 90: 267–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallace-Hadrill, A. (2001) The British School at Rome: One Hundred Years. Rome, British School at Rome.Google Scholar
BSR Administrative Archive. Rome, British School at Rome.Google Scholar
BSR Library and Archive Special Collections, Thomas Ashby notes and notebooks. Rome, British School at Rome.Google Scholar
BSR Photographic Archive. Thomas Ashby Collection, Dora and Agnes Bulwer Collection, Robert Gardner Collection, Peter Paul Mackey Collection and John Henry Parker Collection. Rome, British School at Rome.Google Scholar
Annuario d'Italia: Guida Generale del Regno, Anno XIV (1899). Rome, Bontempelli.Google Scholar
Ashby, T. (1927) The Roman Campagna in Classical Times. London, Benn.Google Scholar
Ashby, T. and Fell, R.A.L. (1921) The Via Flaminia. Journal of Roman Studies 11: 125–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baird, J.A. (2020) Exposing archaeology: time in archaeological photographs. In McFadyen, L. and Hicks, D. (eds), Archaeology and Photography: Time, Objectivity and Archive: 73–95. London and New York, Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ballance, M.H. (1951) The Roman bridges of the Via Flaminia. Papers of the British School at Rome 19: 78–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bucci, A. (2007) La collezione fotografica Bulwer e i manoscritti Lanciani. In Miscellanea Bibliothecae Apostolicae Vaticanae XIV: 95–111. Vatican City.Google Scholar
Bultrighini, U. (2011) Foreword. In Trodone, V. (ed.) Thomas Ashby: Viaggi in Abruzzo 1901/1923: 13. British School at Rome Archive 9. Milan, Silvan.Google Scholar
Castrianni, L. and Ceraudo, G. (2013) (eds) La Regina Viarum a la Via Traiana: da Benevento a Brindisi nelle foto della collezione Gardner. British School at Rome Archive 11. Rome, Delta 3.Google Scholar
Ceraudo, G. (2012) (ed.) Lungo l'Appia e la Traiana: le fotografie di Robert Gardner in viaggio con Thomas Ashby nel territorio di Beneventum agli inizi del Novecento. British School at Rome Archive 10. Rome, Delta 3.Google Scholar
Crawford, A., Romagnino, A., Zucca, R. and Olivo, P. (2000) (eds), Images from the Past: The Archaeology of Sardinia at the End of the 19th Century in the Unpublished Photographs of the Dominican Father Peter Paul Mackey. British School at Rome Archive 5. Sassari, Carlo Defino.Google Scholar
Dorrell, P.G. (1994) Photography in Archaeology and Conservation. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fell, R.A.L. (1924) Etruria and Rome. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gill, L. and Lange, E. (2018) Visualising landscapes. In Howard, P., Thompson, I., Waterton, E. and Atha, M. (eds), The Routledge Companion to Landscape Studies: 511–22. London, Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giovenco, A. and Scott, V. (2012) L'archivio fotografico della British School at Rome e il materiale di Thomas Ashby e Robert Gardner. In Ceraudo, G. (ed.), Lungo l'Appia e la Traiana: le fotografie di Robert Gardner in viaggio con Thomas Ashby nel territorio di Beneventum agli inizi del Novecento. British School at Rome Archive 10. Rome, Delta 3: 15–18.Google Scholar
Hay, S., Keay, S.J. and Millett, M. (2013) Ocriculum (Otricoli, Umbria): An Archaeological Survey of the Roman Town. Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome 22. Rome, British School at Rome.Google Scholar
Hodges, R. (2000) Visions of Rome: Thomas Ashby Archaeologist. Rome and London, The British School at Rome.Google Scholar
Laurence, R. (2012) Roman Archaeology for Historians. London/New York, Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Pera Buranelli, S. and Turchetti, R. (2003) (eds), Sulla Via Appia da Roma a Brindisi. Le fotografie di Thomas Ashby 1891–1925. Rome, L'Erma di Bretschneider.Google Scholar
Lugli, G. (1946) Piccole avventure romane di un archeologo militante. Strenna dei romanisti 7: 42–50.Google Scholar
Lyons, C.L. (2005) The art and science of Antiquity in nineteenth-century photography. In Lyons, C.L., Papadopoulos, J.K., Stewart, L.S. and Szegedy-Maszak, A. (eds), Antiquity and Photography: Early Views of Ancient Mediterranean Sites: 22–65. Los Angeles, Getty Publications.Google Scholar
Mazzi, M.C. (2003) Alle origini del viaggio. In Le Pera Buranelli, S. and Turchetti, R. (eds), Sulla Via Appia da Roma a Brindisi. Le fotografie di Thomas Ashby 1891–1925. Rome, L'Erma di Bretschneider: 19–22.Google Scholar
Mazzocchi, D. (1956) Abitanti di un vecchio palazzo. Strenna dei romanisti 17: 230–7.Google Scholar
Messineo, G. (1991) La Via Flaminia. Da Porta del Popolo a Malborghetto . Rome, Quasar.Google Scholar
Messineo, G. (2010) Introduction. In Vistoli, F. (ed.), La riscoperta della via Flaminia più vicina a Roma: storia, luoghi, personaggi: 14–16. Rome, Nuova Cultura.Google Scholar
Messineo, G. and Carbonara, A. (1993) Via Flaminia. Rome, Istituto poligrafico e zecca dello Stato.Google Scholar
Ryan, J.R. (2013) Photography and Exploration. London, Reaktion Books.Google Scholar
Smith, A.H. (1932) Thomas Ashby 1874–1931. Proceedings of the British Academy XVII: 1–29.Google Scholar
Smith, C. (2011) Foreword. In Trodone, V. (ed.), Thomas Ashby: Viaggi in Abruzzo 1901/1923: 11–12. British School at Rome Archive 9. Milan, Silvan.Google Scholar
Smith, C. (2018) J.B. Ward-Perkins, the BSR and the landscape tradition in post-war Italian archaeology. Papers of the British School at Rome 86: 271–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewart, L.S. (2005) In perfect order: Antiquity in the daguerrotypes of Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey. In Lyons, C.L., Papadopoulos, J.K., Stewart, L.S. and Szegedy-Maszak, A. (eds), Antiquity and Photography: Early Views of Ancient Mediterranean Sites: 66–93. Los Angeles, Getty Publications.Google Scholar
Tomasetti, F. (1927) Scrittori contemporanei di cose romane: Thomas Ashby. Archivio della R. Società Romana di Storia Patria 50: 75–121.Google Scholar
Toynbee, A.J. (1965) Hannibal's Legacy: The Hannibalic War's Effect on Roman Life. London, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Vistoli, F. (2010) La via Flaminia non più “devia spinis et terra alte obruta”. Due casi esemplari: gli horti di Ovidio e il mausoleo di Tor di Quinto. In Vistoli, F. (ed.), La riscoperta della via Flaminia più vicina a Roma: storia, luoghi, personaggi: 49–111. Rome, Nuova Cultura.Google Scholar
Wade, J. (2022) Expeditions from Rome: Thomas Ashby, his BSR companions and the Roman roads of Italy. Papers of the British School at Rome 90: 267–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallace-Hadrill, A. (2001) The British School at Rome: One Hundred Years. Rome, British School at Rome.Google Scholar