From Calais to Constantinople, a golden age of rail travel coincided with an inspiring era of poster art, luring tourists to glittering waterways, historic city centers, and sun-bleached villages. In Italy, many of these posters arose from a partnership between the national railway, the Ferrovie dello Stato, and the Italian National Tourist Board, or ENIT (look for their circular crests flanking headlined attractions). Foreign rail companies, too, were in the business and advertised destinations on lines that passed through Italy, helping form a European crisscrossing that brought riders from cities and towns all along the lines.
With eye-catching illustrations and typography, renowned artists and anonymous designers created for the world an ideal escape, positioning the viewer high above their picturesque destination or directly on the water. Though often little is known about these artists today, their stunning works contributed to a boom in Italian tourism during the interwar years, when most of the posters reproduced here were created.
Images
- Attilio Ravaglia, Palermo
- Unknown designer, Siena, 1925
- Roger Broders (French, 1883–1953), Rome, 1921
- Reinhart Wettach (1898–1976), Capri Italia, 1949
- Ernest Louis Lessieux (French, 1848–1925), Chemins de Fer de l’Est / Venise
- Antonio Simeoni, Lago di Garda / Riva, c. 1926
- Mario Borgoni (Italian, 1869–1936), Merano, c. 1927
- Unknown designer, Simplon Express
- Marcello Nizzoli (Italian, 1887–1969), Bergamo, 1927
- Georges Dorival (French, 1879–1968), Rome
- Marcello Dudovich (Italian, 1878–1962) and Marcello Nizzoli (Italian, 1887–1969), Venezia Lido, c. 1930
- Mario Borgoni (Italian, 1869–1936), Lake Maggiore, c. 1925
- Georges Dorival (French, 1879–1968), Venise, 1921
- Virgilio Retrosi (Italian, 1892–1975), Roma, c. 1930
- Attilio Ravaglia, Ravenna, c. 1930s
- Marcello Dudovich (Italian, 1878–1962), Padova, c. 1930
- Unknown designer, Venezia, 1928
- Giuseppe Riccobaldi (Italian, 1887–1976), Lago di Garda / Riva-Torbole
- Roger Broders (French, 1883–1953), Florence, 1921
- Vittorio Grassi (Italian, 1878–1958), Taormina, 1933
- Unknown designer, Aux Lacs Italiens, c. 1928
- Piffero, Visitez l’Italie par train
- Unknown designer, Marina di Ravenna, 1931
- Giuseppe Magagnoli (Italian, 1878–1933), The Valley of Aosta, c. 1925
- Unknown designer, Montecatini, c. 1930
- Publio Morbiducci, Ravello, 1933
- Franz Lenhart (Austrian, 1898–1992), Dolomiti, 1938
- Unknown designer, Trafoi / Passo dello Selvio, c. 1920
- Elio Ximenes (1855–1926), Lago di Garda, c. 1905
- Unknown designer, Venezia, 1938