"… dove l'epidemia fotografica si è diffusa" : architectural photographs in nineteenth-century Sicily

The various practices and uses of photographs and their effects in the nineteenth century are more clearly reflected in Sicily than in other parts of Italy and the rest of Europe. Photographs and their appearance in both popular and scholarly print media gave Sicily widespread visibility. This paper considers photographs of Norman monuments in Palermo and Monreale made for diverse purposes: they provided documentation and inventory for preservation and restoration; they served as an experimental instrument for architectural analysis; they offered new methods for the then-new disciplines of art and architectural history; they were tourist souvenirs depicting romantically transfigured sceneries; and they even played an important role in formation and promotion of the Italian nation-state.