The British archaeologist and topographer Thomas Ashby (Staines 1874-London 1931) was a renowned scholar whose multifaceted research was acknowledged by the most important cultural institutions in Italy and abroad.
Between 1901 and 1923 Ashby made a number of trips to Abruzzo leaving a legacy of an invaluable photographic collection. As the images show, it was not only archaeological sites and monuments that interested Ashby, but also landscapes, architecture and daily life, people and their faces, markets, regional costumes, processions and local traditions in Abruzzo at the beginning of the 20th century. Ashby had understood that he was documenting a world soon destined to disappear.
Text by V. Scott and I. Villani
Photo by Thomas Ashby, L’Aquila, cattle market, 1901, Thomas Ashby Collection, TA-1408
