A look at one of my obsessions…
You know that last scene in Back To The Future, when Doc turns to Marty and he says:
“Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads.”- that part?
Well, forget all about that part.
Because today I’m taking you on a little time traveling tour in the other direction – precisely 100 years back in time to show you something I discovered in a popular market here in Florence roughly 10 years ago.
The Mercato Sant’Ambrogio in the Santa Croce neighborhood in Florence is known for its farm fresh fruits and vegetables - but that’s not all. It also has a daily rotation of different “themed” vendors such as used and vintage clothing, antiques and even remnants of the local fabric trade.
A morning at Sant’Ambrogio market.
Im telling you, it’s the place to be!
Antique sellers often just throw it out on the table for you to paw through.
After going there every day for several weeks it soon became pretty clear to me that the right day to go was Wednesday – or what I like to call, “Giovanni Day”.
It was the day of the week that a slim man, with a slight beard named Giovanni would unload his latest vintage finds on a fold out table on the far end of the market.
Crowds of older gentlemen with white hair and tan jackets would materialize like Medici ghosts out of the misty, Florentine morning, and surround his table to paw over the old watches and silver plated frames.
Early birds get the worms … or the vintage goodies!
Giovanni of course in true Italian market style, would stand around and smoke cigarettes.
I’m gonna skip the rest of the prose here and just say that for a vintage hound like myself it was the place to be and one fine September morning I hit gold.
I arrived early in the morning and it was apparent that Giovanni had stumbled across a rather interesting estate. He explained he had the honor of cleaning out the apartment of one of Florence’s oldest journalists who had recently passed as he slammed down piles of vintage magazines and boxes of old photographs and postcards and hand written letters on his table.
Yes, my heart was racing.
Yes, I was frantically checking my pockets to see how much cash was on me (only 15 euro!),
Yes, I was giving my 1 year old son the bag of cookies to eat, (the ones I was planning to save for his afternoon snack) while he sat in the stroller next to me –I would buy more! Wait, no I won’t because I planned on spending every cent on 100 year old paper scraps dabbled with fading ink obviously!
“How much can I get for a small child Giovanni?!!
Ok , I didn’t go that far obviously but when I uncovered a large pile of vintage magazines in what I now understand to be called “Stile Liberty”, or the Italian style of Art Nouveau and knew I only had 15 euro in my pocket I did have some unsavory thoughts!
Luckily, I had been a customer of his for a few years and I asked him to put aside a pile of twenty or so handpicked magazines dated from the turn of the last century and scooted off quickly to the nearest bank machine.
And the rest is history, i.e. I ran home googled it and became obsessed with Scena Illustrata!
A few of the hundreds of titles I have collected over the years…
Sometimes you can find an entire year bound together in a book called “Rilegato”. I have 1902, 1904, 1905, 1906 and 1921…so far!
January 1921 Scena Illustrata - born 100 years ago!
There were years when, if I had any new friend or acquaintance come to my house for a tea you could bet I would pull those lovelies out and rant on and on about them! Again, obsessed.
Although there is so much to learn about the magazine let me pass on some basics:
- It was founded and published in Florence In 1884 and continued until 2005
- It was a cultural magazine filled with news on the arts, music, theatre, fashion, sports and European events, celebrities and politicians.
- The covers were often designed by the illustrator Ezio Anichini (Florence, 1886 – 1948) who’s father, Giuseppe Anichini, was also a famous illustrator in his time and was certainly his first teacher.
Many covers feature gold leaf elements.
Each monthly issue is roughly 24 - 36 pages long featuring articles on culture, the arts, sports and even gossip!
Each page has so many amazing details!
Each issue usually features an amazing centerfold!I believe these are lithographs but I am not certain.
Embossed gold leaf goodness…