1958 – Tourists walk across the greens in front of the Battistero di San Giovanni in Pisa, Italy. Photo © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
We had been to Pisa in 2012 to see what probably must be one of the most photographed locations in the world: The Leaning Tower of Pisa and the surrounding buildings. Of course, I took several photos of the site as well.
When I reviewed the recently acquired lot of slides I was pleasantly surprised to see a few shots of Pisa – as it was in back in 1958!
Here, the photographer captured the Battistero di San Giovanni. The three major changes when comparing this image with more recent ones are:
- Tourists walk across the greens. I guess mass tourism was still in its infancy, so nobody cared about the few people using shortcuts between the buildings. In the back (on the right) there is a small group sitting on the greens! There are no warning signs or small fences whatsoever.
- Missing external statues on the second floor. A couple of statues can be seen on the left side, but the majority of statues have been removed for restauration. Today, all statues are present.
- The walls of the building look rather dark. This may be due to air pollution, dust and fallout which was a much more common issue in the 1950s and 1960s. Today, the building presents itself bright, creamy white.
An interesting snapshot of Pisa towards the end of the 1950s. 🙂
The high resolution image
| Photographer | unknown |
| Capture Date | 1958 |
| Location | Pisa, Italy |
| Image Source | 35 mm color slide film |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 3843 x 5763 Pixels |
| Copyright | Scan & Edit © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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