Monday, May 4, 2015

The Missing Bell Tower

Church of San Jacopo in Acquaviva, Livorno
Unless the sender helped us with a readable year, dating and old postcard is often a puzzle. The present facade of the church of San Jacopo in Acquaviva was finished in 1891, but the bell tower was added only in 1897. Therefore the actual photo was probably taken between these years.
Old postcard, church of San Jacopo in Acquaviva, Livorno
A further hint comes from the postage stamp, which is part of a series called “Floreale” (Floral), issued in 1901. So, all things considered, we can quite confidently place this vintage postcard in the first years of 1900, but the picture used was certainly taken before 1897.
(Postcard digitized from the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

See also: San Jacopo in Acquaviva
External links: Floreale (iBolli, in Italian)
Search labels: postcard

20 comments:

Revrunner said...

Good sleuthing, VP.

Lois Evensen said...

Fascinating!

Lois said...

It is beautiful! Good job of investigating you did there.

Michelle said...

Fantastic structure!

Randy said...

Very interesting.

Luis Gomez said...

This is great VP !

Dina said...

A good sleuth indeed, VP.

The tower makes a big difference.
(BTW, have you seen old photos from when the Jaffa Gate had a tall clock tower?)

Stefan Jansson said...

Great to see such old photos and compare them with how it looks today.

Tanya Breese said...

you've done your research...i think i like it better without it!

Gunn said...

A good bit of detective work there, and what a great building.
I love the colours too.
Antonio Cantelli collection is unique and very very pretty.

Babzy.B said...

it looks pretty the same;)

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Apart from the tower nothing has changed.. Nice bit of sleuthing VP :)

Birdman said...

"Having a great time. Wish you were here. Say hi to all."
Ding Dong!

Karl said...

Fascinating comparison, VP !

William Kendall said...

It is an impressive building.

RedPat said...

You are a good detective!

cieldequimper said...

It's strange how something is missing in the old postcard meaning that I prefer the church with the bell tower!

Arianna said...

Alla ricerca del campanile perduto :) ciao, Arianna

Jack said...

It is fun seeing your detective work on the postcard and bell tower.

EG CameraGirl said...

The bell tower was an afterthought? It certainly adds to the look of the building.

Cool sleuthing. But it is curious that someone would send a postcard of a building that didn't quite look like the building any more. :)