Former Ghetto, Rome, Italy, 1960

1960 – Street view of a run-down building in the former ghetto of Rome in Italy. Edited scan © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com

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The story behind the image

Here is yet another stunning image from the 100+ slides covering a trip to Rome in 1960, shot by a young, passionate amateur of just 19 years.

This slide carried just the title ‘former ghetto’ without mentioning any further details. And indeed, just looking at the run-down buildings made me feel sad. The walls covered with dirt and probably some fungus as well. The doors dark and depressing. And yet, laundry hangs out to dry. A single car stands in front of the buildings, joined by two Vespa motorbikes. Yes, this pretty much looked like a ‘ghetto’ in the 1960s, and the young photographer did a terrific job capturing the sad state of the buildings.

I did a bit of research and found the exact location: Via di S. Ambrogio, 18-20, with number 18 being on the left, number 19 in the middle, and number 20 on the right. Today, the situation has vastly improved, albeit number 18 still looks, well, sub-par. The number of cars has increased despite the really narrow street.

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The high resolution image

Capture Date	c. 1960
Location	Rome, Italy
Photographer	unknown
Image Source	35 mm color slide, Agfacolor CT 18
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	4343 x 6836 Pixels
Copyright	Scan & Edit © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com