Lancia Autoalveare, 1932 Triple-Decker Luxury Bus Which Ran From Rome to Tivoli

Built in 1932, the first real triple-decker bus, Lancia Autoalveare, was made in Italy. While not much is known about the manufacturer, it ran between Rome and Tivoli and carried 88 passengers.

The third level was essentially a smoking compartment and the bus had space for 440 pounds (200 kg) of luggage and space for dogs. It was 33.5 feet long and 11 feet wide and had a speed of 28 miles per hour (45 km per hour).

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Candid Photographs Captured People Living a Normal Life With Mummies in Venzone, Italy in 1950

The inhabitants of Venzone, Italy with their ancient mummy relatives in 1950 by Jack Birns for LIFE magazine. It was believed that so many people died from the Black Death that they couldn’t fit all the bodies in the cemetery and simply decided to live with their remains.

In a Venzone, a commune in the Province of Udine in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, people were living with mummies. The people in that village lived a normal life with the mummies. They drank tee with the mummies, they ate together, went to the church, and slept. The people, living with the mummies were not something gross and strange. The mummies are their ancestors that lived in the village a long time ago.

In the 14th century, the Black Death swept the Venzone village. Many people died but did not have enough cemeteries to bury all the bodies. By this, the villagers put the 42 dead bodies that couldn’t be buried in the graveyard into a coffin and stored in the basement of the chapel of San Michael.

300 years later in 1647, the old chapel of San Michael was to be planned to be rebuilt, so the coffins in the basement had to be moved. However, when they opened the coffin, the 42 dead bodies were mummified. By this, the people believed that it was the God’s will to send their ancestors alive to them to protect the village (As at this time, they did not know what ‘mummy’ was). After this, the villagers asked for help for any hardship and wished good luck to the mummies. The mummies were treated very well as the elders in the village. And this tradition lasted till 1950. The mummies were the ancestors that the villagers had to cherish.

No one knew about this village’s tradition for a long time as the town was at the east end, isolated from other cities. One day, accidentally, an American photographer name Jack Birns was lost in the Alps mountain and needed a place to stay for the night. Jack fled into the Venzone village and saw this bizarre scene, an old man drinking tea with a mummy. He took pictures of the villagers daily life with the mummies and published on the Time magazine, Life. The photos of the mummies from Venzone village became a phenomenon throughout the world.

As the Venzone mummies were revealed to the world, people started to wonder how the mummies became naturally mummified. For a mummy, it is essential to remove all the organs in the body and the embalming treatment to prevent from desiccation. Without these treatments, there are exceptional cases of becoming a mummy as whether the weather is extremely cold or dry. However, the mummies from Venzone did not go through the process of preservation and been wholly neglected in the humid basement, the dead bodies became mummified. There have been other studies that the bodies became mummies from some germs. However, the villagers do not care how the bodies became mummified. They believe that the mummies, ancestors, are the will of God.

After the earthquake in 1976, there have been only 15 mummies prevented. Now for the protection of the mummies, they are kept in the Crypt of the Cemetery Chapel of Saint Michael (XIII century) located in S. Andrea Apostolo Cathedral churchyard.

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30 Fascinating Photos Capture Street Scenes of Trieste in the 1980s

Trieste is a city and a seaport in northeastern Italy. It is towards the end of a narrow strip of Italian territory lying between the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia, approximately 10–15 km (6.2–9.3 mi) south and east of the city, Croatia is some 30 km (19 mi) to the south.

Trieste is at the head of the Gulf of Trieste and has a very long coastline, free sea access in Barcola and is surrounded by grassland, forest and karst areas. Being spared cold waves in winter by the maritime influence, the city has a subtropical climate rare for its relatively high latitude.

Trieste, with its deep-water port, is a maritime gateway for Northern Italy, Germany, Austria and Central Europe, as it was before 1918 and is considered the end point of the Maritime Silk Road with its connections via the Suez Canal and Turkey and the other Overland to Africa, China, Japan and many countries in Asia.

The city was also rated as one of the 25 best small towns in the world for quality of life and one of the ten safest cities in the world.

These fascinating photos were taken by Duccio Pugliese that show street scenes of Trieste in the 1980s.

A Sunday in Trieste

Barcola, Trieste

Bus No.30

Citroen 2CV

Fiat 238 reflection

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Amazing Photos of an Art Deco House in Trieste From the 1930s

Trieste is a city and a seaport in northeastern Italy. It is towards the end of a narrow strip of Italian territory lying between the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia, approximately 10–15 km (6.2–9.3 mi) south and east of the city, Croatia is some 30 km (19 mi) to the south.

Trieste is at the head of the Gulf of Trieste and has a very long coastline, free sea access in Barcola and is surrounded by grassland, forest and karst areas. Being spared cold waves in winter by the maritime influence, the city has a subtropical climate rare for its relatively high latitude.

There are also other national and international names for the city such as “Città della Barcolana”, “Trieste città della bora”, “città del vento”, “Trieste città mitteleuropea”, “Trieste città della scienza – City of Science”, “City of the three winds”, “Vienna by the sea” or “City of coffee”.

A set of amazing photos from Adelmonaco that shows interior of an art deco house in Trieste from the 1930s. Art deco is the predominant decorative art style of the 1920s and 1930s, characterized by precise and boldly delineated geometric shapes and strong colors and used most notably in household objects and in architecture.

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Sophia Loren Between Wigs, 1970

Sophia Loren wearing completely different wigs by Alexandre of Paris in Sunflower (1970). The photos were taken by Tazio Secchiaroli.

Sunflower (Italian: I girasoli) is a 1970 Italian drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica. It was the first western movie to be filmed in the USSR. Some scenes were filmed near Moscow, while others near Poltava, a regional center in Ukraine.

Sunflower feels like a precursor to Life is Beautiful (1997), because both films are full of hopefulness, but they both exist as heart-wrenching stories. They deliver the same moving swells of emotion, but for different reasons.

Alpine Joys in South Tyrol in the 1920s and ’30s Through Wonderful Photos

South Tyrol is an autonomous province in northern Italy, one of the two that make up the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province is the northernmost of Italy, the second largest, with an area of 7,400 square kilometres (2,857 sq mi). Its capital and largest city is Bolzano.

The province is granted a considerable level of self-government, consisting of a large range of exclusive legislative and executive powers and a fiscal regime that allows it to retain 90% of revenue, while remaining a net contributor to the national budget. South Tyrol is among the wealthiest in the European Union.

These wonderful photos from Hans-Michael Tappen that captured alpine joys in South Tyrol around 1925-1938.

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20 Wonderful Vintage Photos of a Young and Beautiful Virna Lisi in the 1960s

Born on November 8, 1936 as Virna Pieralisi in Acona, Italy, Virna Lisi began her film career in her teens. Discovered in Rome by two Neapolitan producers, Antonio Ferrigno and Ettore Pesce, she debuted in La corda d’acciaio (The Steel Rope, 1953). Initially, she appeared in musical films, like E Napoli canta (Naples Sings, 1953) and Questa è la vita (Of Life and Love, 1954). Nonetheless, her beauty was more valued than her talent, as seen in the films Le diciottenni (Eighteen Year Olds) and Lo scapolo (The Bachelor), both released in 1955. Despite this, she filled some demanding roles, particularly in La donna del giorno (1956), Eva (1962), and the spectacle Romolo e Remo (1961).

In the late 1950s, Lisi performed on stage at Piccolo Teatro di Milano in I giacobini by Federico Zardi under the direction of Giorgio Strehler. During the 1960s, Lisi appeared in comedies and participated in television dramas that were widely viewed in Italy. Lisi also promoted a toothpaste brand on television with a slogan that would become a catchphrase among Italians: “con quella bocca può dire ciò che vuole” (with such a mouth, she can say whatever she wants).

Though she turned down the Tatiana Romanova role in From Russia with Love (1963), Hollywood producers sought a new Marilyn Monroe and so, Lisi debuted in Hollywood comedy as a blue-eyed blonde temptress with Jack Lemmon in How to Murder Your Wife (1965) and appeared with Tony Curtis in Not with My Wife, You Don’t! (1966). Lisi then starred with Frank Sinatra, in Assault on a Queen (1966), in The Girl and the General, co-starring with Rod Steiger, and in two films with Anthony Quinn, The Secret of Santa Vittoria, directed by Stanley Kramer, and the war drama The 25th Hour. Confined to the same type of glamour roles here, she returned to Europe within a couple of years but hardly fared better in such mediocre movies as Arabella (1967).

In later decades, however, a career renaissance occurred for Lisi. She began to be perceived as more than just a tasty dish, giving a wide variety of mature, award-winning performances. It all culminated in the role of a lifetime with the film, Queen Margot (1994), in which she played a marvelously malevolent Caterina de Medici and won both the César and Cannes Film Festival awards, not to mention the Italian Silver Ribbon award. She has since reigned supreme as a character lead and support player. On 18 December 2014, Lisi died of lung cancer in Rome at age 78.

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Wonderful Black and White Portraits of Sharon Tate Taken by Sean Barry-Weske During the Filming of ‘The Thirteen Chairs’

The Thirteen Chairs (12 + 1 – original title and Italian release title) is a 1969 comedy film directed by Nicolas Gessner and Luciano Lucignani. It was based on the 1928 satirical novel The Twelve Chairs by Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov. The film is notable for the last screen appearance of Sharon Tate before her murder.

Sharon Tate was three months pregnant when she arrived in Rome for filming at the end of March 1969. Director Gessner arranged to film her several semi-nude scenes first, later hiding stomach with large purses and scarves. She spoke fluent Italian. She returned to LA in July 1969.

Terry-Thomas recalled: “Sharon turned out to share a distinction with Lena Horne. They were the only two performers I ever knew who were entirely natural before the camera. We were like a double act. She was nice, intelligent and pretty.”

Canadian producer Claude Giroux recalled: “It’s a comedy, and, let’s face it, no one wants to watch a comedy when the star has been wiped out in a real-life drama.”

The movie, originally titled Thirteen was renamed 12 + 1 for superstitious reasons. Claude Giroux recalled: ‘Miss Tate said that her very first movie Eye of the Devil (1967) had been originally called Thirteen and she had hoped this was not going to be her first and last film. We laughed and assured her otherwise, but I changed it to 12 + 1.”

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A Woman Stomping Grapes for Wine in Frascati, Italy, 1957

Although presses have taken over almost everywhere in Italy, grapes are still crushed by foot at this winery in the famed wine making town of Frascati, near Rome, Italy. Atop a tall barrel, this woman steps through the ancient method, trampling bunches of grapes underfoot. The stems are removed later.

One of the earliest extant visual representations of the practice appears on a Roman Empire sarcophagus from the 3rd century AD, which depicts an idealized pastoral scene with a group of Erotes harvesting and stomping grapes at Vindemia, a rural festival.

Many contemporary wineries hold grape-stomping contests to attract visitors. The practice is also the subject of many depictions in contemporary media, including the 1974 Mel Tillis song “Stomp Them Grapes”, the I Love Lucy episode “Lucy’s Italian Movie”, and The Littlest Grape Stomper, a children’s book by Alan Madison.

Bone Church of Rome: Amazing Vintage Photos Show Inside Rome’s Capuchin Crypt From the Late 19th Century

Popularly known as the Capuchin Crypt, the ossuary displays the bones of over 3,700 Capuchin friars, who died between 1528 and 1870. It is ornately decorated with skulls and bones displayed in the Baroque and Rococo styles, with a skeleton dressed as ‘Death’ standing in a niche.

The Capuchin Crypt is a small space comprising several tiny chapels located beneath the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini on the Via Veneto near Piazza Barberini in Rome, Italy. It contains the skeletal remains of 3,700 bodies believed to be Capuchin friars buried by their order. The Catholic order insists that the display is not meant to be macabre, but a silent reminder of the swift passage of life on Earth and our own mortality. The crypts opened to the public in 1851, but it wasn’t until the following year that women were also allowed in.

“This must be a revolting sight,” said I to my friend; “and what appears to me yet more disgusting is that these remains of the dead are only exposed in this manner for the sake of levying a tax on the imbecility of the living.” — J. D. de Chatelain, 1851

When the monks arrived at the church in 1631, moving from the old monastery, they brought 300 cartloads of deceased friars. Fr. Michael of Bergamo oversaw the arrangement of the bones in the burial crypt. The soil in the crypt was brought from Jerusalem, by order of Pope Urban VIII. As monks died during the lifetime of the crypt, the longest-buried monk was exhumed to make room for the newly deceased who was buried without a coffin, and the newly reclaimed bones were added to the decorative motifs. Bodies typically spent 30 years decomposing in the soil, before being exhumed.

Pictures of Sophia Loren at the Venice Film Festival in 1958

The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival is the world’s oldest film festival and one of the “Big Three” film festivals, alongside the Cannes Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival. The Big Three are internationally acclaimed for giving creators the artistic freedom to express themselves through film. In 1951, FIAPF formally accredited the festival.

Founded in Venice, Italy in August 1932, the festival is part of the Venice Biennale, one of the world’s oldest exhibitions of art, created by the Venice City Council on 19 April 1893. The range of work at the Venice Biennale now covers Italian and international art, architecture, dance, music, theatre, and cinema.

The festival is held in late August or early September on the island of the Lido in the Venice Lagoon. Screenings take place in the historic Palazzo del Cinema on the Lungomare Marconi. The festival continues to be one of the world's most popular and fastest-growing.

These vintage photos captured a young and beautiful Sophia Loren at the 19th annual Venice International Film Festival which was held from 24 August to 7 September 1958.

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