Anna Pellegrino, ed.. Viaggi fantasmagorici: L’odeporica delle esposizioni universali (1851-1940). Rome: FrancoAngeli, 2018. 244 pp.

Reviewed by Cristina Della Coletta

Published on H- (January, 2020)

Commissioned by Matteo Pretelli (University of "L'Orientale")

The volume Viaggi fantasmagorici: logues, tour books, children guides, and illustrated L’odeporica delle esposizioni universali exposition magazines; of ephemera such as post‐ (1851-1940) developed from a session that Anna cards, photo albums, and short films; and of popu‐ Pellegrino and Sergio Onger organized in 2017 for lar narratives such as novels and science fiction, the eighth conference of the Associazione Italiana also constitutes an original contribution to the ro‐ di Storia Urbana (AISU) devoted to the theme of bust scholarship on the Universal Expositions “La città, il viaggio, il turismo. Percezione, pro‐ available today. duzione e trasformazione.” Pellegrino’s editorial Luca Massidda’s “Il racconto di una fantas‐ initiative resulted in an eclectic and broad-rang‐ magoria. L’esposizione universale nella letteratu‐ ing collection of essays covering the major cities ra dell’Ottocento” establishes the crucial connec‐ that hosted international and universal exhibi‐ tion between the development of the newspaper tions between 1851 and 1940: London, Paris, Phila‐ industry and the phenomenon of the expositions. delphia, Chicago, New York, Milan, and Turin. By reminding his readers that the Illustrated Lon‐ In the rich corpus of scholarship devoted to don News opened a satellite location in the Crystal the World’s Fairs phenomenon, Pellegrino’s vol‐ Palace for the duration of the 1851 exhibition, ume displays a number of innovative elements, Massida shows how the production of news was first and foremost the inclusion of the Italian ex‐ staged as a spectacle within the spectacle of the perience within a wider analysis of key exhibi‐ very exhibition that this magazine was charged to tions in Europe and the United States. In addition, portray, thus magnifying the self-reflexive aspect and from varied perspectives, the essays of Viaggi of the fairs’ phantasmagorias and sealing the pact fantasmagorici engage with the ways in which the of reciprocity between mass media and universal international and universal exhibitions of the exhibitions. Massidda goes on to demonstrate nineteenth and early twentieth centuries trans‐ how, especially in the case of Paris, the metropolis formed the cities that hosted them by contributing and its exhibitions became thriving mirror images to the development of crucial aspects of moderni‐ of each other, a pattern that Émile Zola eloquently ty such as urbanization, middle-class tourism, and rendered in Nana (1880) and L’Argent (1891). Mas‐ new means of urban mass transit and long-dis‐ sidda juxtaposed these two novels with Charles tance transportation. The discussion of new par‐ Dickens’s Bleak House (1852/3), which he reads as aliterary forms such as exposition guides, cata‐ H-Net Reviews the dark and dystopic rendition of the optimistic ture, tone, and scope among these guides, Pellegri‐ transparencies of the Crystal Palace. no demonstrates that, in their variety, these guides In a highly informative piece, “Uno spazio of‐ strove to achieve two contrasting goals. The first ferto al turismo: I souvenir fotografici delle Espo‐ was to evoke a phantasmagoria of consumption, sizioni Universali parigine 1855-1900,” Raffaella estrangement, and amusement based on the ef‐ Biscioni analyzes the role that photographs, photo fort to inspire feelings of surprise and wonder. The albums, and postcards played in the construction second was instead taxonomic, and predicated on of recurring sets of visual topoi that framed the the encyclopedic drive to order, catalogue, and collective perception of the universal expositions. classify the world according to shared codes and Fair organizers often delegated the task of creat‐ knowable criteria. ing a visual narrative of the exposition to a select Simone Fagioli identifies the same dual inspi‐ number of official photographers who typically ration, commingling taxonomic principles with structured their representations around the cele‐ the estranging codes of wonder in “Eyes Wide bration of national identities, the illustration of Shut. L’ingegner Celso Capacci da Firenze alla technological and industrial progress, and the dis‐ World’s Columbian Exposition di Chicago (1893).” play of artworks. Biscioni’s study of the Paris Ex‐ Fagioli offers an original study of Italian engineer position in 1900 is especially enlightening, as she Celso Capacci’s journey to the United States in shows how the Neurdien Brothers created a reper‐ 1893. In his role as commissioner for the Machin‐ toire of over three hundred images that became ery, Transportation, and Electricity exhibits and the photographic repository for the major publica‐ juror for the Mines and Metallurgy sectors of the tions devoted to the exposition, including the offi‐ Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition, Carpacci cial tour guides, thus facilitating the mass diffu‐ documented his visit with an official report writ‐ sion of standard images of the fair. Just as the ten for the Collegio degli architetti ed ingegneri of themes were recurring, so were the photographic Florence. In addition, Carpacci sent a number of techniques. Photographers favored panoramic letters to his mother and other family members. shots and bird’s-eye views with an emphasis on The tone varies from the technical to the mun‐ crowds and technologies in motion, as well as dane, corresponding to Carpacci’s roles as both ju‐ night shots with enchanting plays of light and wa‐ ror/commissioner and “elite tourist.” The techni‐ ter. Together, themes and techniques elicited two cal report includes detailed lists of wares accord‐ contradictory yet coexisting experiences: one was ing to the expositions’ cataloguing ethos. Carpacci empowering, in its ability to encompass the fair‐ combines these lists with more personal consider‐ grounds from above and in a single gaze, and the ations triggering “picturesque,” “exotic,” and other was spellbinding, triggering a sense of awe “wonder-inspired” feelings in direct yet unre‐ and magic. solved contradiction with the parallel taxonomic In the volume’s central essay, entitled drive. “Itinerari fantasmagorici: A spasso per Parigi con In “Al di la di Fairmount Park: turismo a Phila‐ l’allegro Colibrì,” Anna Pellegrino compares and delphia nel 1876. La metropoli tra storia, progres‐ contrasts a number of exposition guides, namely so, arte e natura” Manuel Viera de Miguel expands Exposition en poche guide pratique illustrépar Uzè on the notion that world’s fairs inspired two types s; Guide itinéraire du visiteur à l’exposition de of travel: one real and the other imaginary. The 1878; Visite à l’exposition de Paris en 1855; and latter was built on virtual experiences of travel Guide illustré de l’exposition universelle de 1889. across time and space (one can think about the While paying attention to the differences in struc‐ Medieval Villages and Streets of Cairo at numer‐

2 H-Net Reviews ous fairs). These experiences, de Miguel points out, Cattolico, interested in the ways the poor could were aimed at consolidating a geopolitical order benefit from the fairs’ experiences, and Don Luigi where hegemonic power radiated out of the expo‐ Marchelli, open to technological innovations as sition’s hosting city. The city, Philadelphia in the means to improve the conditions of the lower case of de Miguel’s study, was the privileged place classes. where all potential contradictions were resolved a As suggested by the title of his essay, priori, as demonstrated by the innumerable illus‐ “L’immagine della modernità nell’esposizione in‐ trations in travel guides and exposition maga‐ ternazionale di Milano 1906,” Davide Baviello de‐ zines where the symbols of advancing progress scribes the numerous ways in which modernity (steam engines, smokestacks and factories, the lo‐ was illustrated in this exposition, and provides an comotive) peacefully coexisted with pristine natu‐ especially illuminating reading of the role played ral landscapes. by the supporters of workers’ unions and women In “Con Bobby, Betty e I Middleton alla New rights in the planning and development of the In‐ York World’s Fair 1939-40. Utopia futurista e corpo‐ ternational Exposition of Milan in 1906. Baviello ration marketing per l’immaginario collettivo tra helps us understand how Milan was not only the American Dream e Urban Planning,” Ilaria M.P. core of the Italian bourgeoisie but also the cradle Barzaghi examines A Trip to the New York’s of the Italian labor movement. Similarly, Michela World Fair with Bobby and Betty, an exposition Mancini explores the expositions in Turin in rela‐ guide written for children, and The Middleton tion to the development of Arturo Labriola’s revo‐ Family at the New York World’s Fair, a short film lutionary trade unions and ’s Italian produced by the Westinghouse corporation. Socialist Party and through the prism of Emilio Barzaghi demonstrates how these two works, Salgari’s Le meraviglie del Duemila (1907). This sci‐ while different in style, medium, and intended au‐ ence-fiction novel, Mancini claims, represented diences, present similar features, aimed at ex‐ the tale of the generation that, in the first decade tolling the enduring virtues of American capital‐ of the twentieth century in Italy, became increas‐ ism, progress, and well-being. ingly disillusioned by the gospel of progress and Italy is represented in three essays devoted to technological advancement touted by the univer‐ the fairs held in Milan and Turin in the second sal exhibitions on the eve of the frst World War. half of the nineteenth century and the beginning If the development of modern forms of mid‐ of the twentieth. In “Tra machine grandiose e vesti dle-class tourism related to the mega-events of the talari. Esposizioni, turismo e chiesa cattolica a Mi‐ wfairs constitutes the trait-d’-union among the lano nella seconda meta’ dell’Ottocento,” Luciano eclectic pieces of Pellegrino’s ambitious collection, Maffi and Martino Lorenzo Fagnani address the the volume also opens new vistas on areas that still unexplored role of the Roman Catholic Church deserve further analysis. These areas involve the in the expositions that took place in Milan in 1871 connections between the world’s fand mass and 1874. Maffi and Fagnani demonstrate that the events such as general strikes and suffragist church did not speak with a single voice but rather demonstrations in light of the growth of workers’ according to differing agendas, depending on unions and women’s rights movements. In the whether the authority behind the words was the Italian context, and in counterpart to the advance Jesuit arm of the Roman Catholic Church (as rep‐ of the in Turin and Milan, resented by the periodical La Civiltà Cattolica) or an area that deserves further scrutiny regards the the militant voice of individual priests. These in‐ role of the Catholic Church within the framework cluded Don Davide Albertario in L’Osservatore of the universal expositions. Targeted studies of

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Italy’s participation in world’s fairs abroad are also missing from existing scholarship. In addi‐ tion, Viaggi fantasmagorici elicits further discus‐ sion of the function of the many ephemera circu‐ lated on the occasion of the world’s fairs and in connection with the development of a thriving in‐ dustry devoted to the production of objects of mass consumption.

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Citation: Cristina Della Coletta. Review of Pellegrino, Anna, ed. Viaggi fantasmagorici: L’odeporica delle esposizioni universali (1851-1940). H-Italy, H-Net Reviews. January, 2020.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54928

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

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