Antique & Vintage Postcards

Before the selfie-stick crowds arrived, Pisa's Campo dei Miracoli looked like this — the Baptistery's ribbed dome, the Cathedral's long Romanesque nave, and the unmistakable tilt of the Campanile all visible above the rooftops of the medieval city in a panoramic sweep that makes the miracle of the square all the more apparent. This early-to-mid twentieth-century Italian real-photo or fine halftone card was published by Rd. P. Roncati of the Libreria Stazione in Pisa (catalog #12255) and bears the "Produzione Italiana" stamp box on the back — a marking used during the autarchic Fascist period encouraging domestic production, suggesting a likely date in the late 1920s through early 1940s. The image is beautifully composed, shot from an elevated vantage point looking northwest across the city's tiled rooflines toward the Piazza dei Miracoli, with the Apuan Alps fading into the hazy background. A dealer price "200" is penciled in the corner — likely 200 lire or a later 200-cent price sticker.