Anna Maria de Ferrari, a Genovese noble, whose mother was the adopted daughter of the Tsar, lived between 1874 and 1924. In 1895, she married Prince Scipione Borghese, a traveler, explorer, politician and diplomat who became famous after winning the 1907 Peking-Paris car race aboard his Itala.

Princess Borghese owned the little Camera Box that had just been commercialized by Kodak. She took exhilarating and elegant pictures throughout her life, with a particular talent for framing: family reunions in their vacation homes, travels (with her husband she visited Russia, Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, China, Japan, Afghanistan,…) She also shot images as a nurse for the Red Cross, on the front lines during the First World War, and the 1915 Avezzano earthquake, or the reconstruction of Messina, in 1913, after that of 1908.

Anna Maria Borghese left behind nearly 5000 pictures, meticulously gathered in an album, although her education and her being of Roman nobility prevented her from revealing her rich and astonishing volume of work (contrary to Lartigue, for example).

Her pictures provide a rare and precious narrative of the time, capable of telling the story of an era and enchanting us with their unintentional beauty.

Mario Peliti, after working intensely and patiently, ultimately convinced Novello Cavazza, one of the Princess’ heirs, to bring her work into the public eye: 170 pictures are currently on display in Rome.

The exhibition is accompanied by a lovely catalog published by Peliti Associati, in Italian and English.

Laura Incardona

The History of an Era: Pictures from Princess Anna Maria Borghese’s Albums

Until April 6

Calcografia
Via della Stamperia 6
Rome