Description
The exhibition “Sguardi su Alessandria attraverso i Fondi della Fototeca Civica” organised by the City of Alessandria and Azienda Costruire Insieme is the opportunity to present to a vast public the Civic Photo Library, set up by the City of Alessandria in 2001, to recover and enhance the photography collections belonging to the local administration, authorities and private individuals, to increase the photographic culture and enrich the heritage of images regarding events of history and of Alessandria.

The images of the Civic Photo Library show Alessandria with original photographs that, taken and printed from 1880 to 1940, tell the changes that took place in the city.

The first core of the exhibition "Sguardi su Alessandria" is formed by the collections of the Local Historical Fund, from the deposits of the Civic Library which presents gelatin silver prints of the late 19th and albumen prints of the Castellani and Mignone photographers.
These include images such as "“L’Antico quartiere di Arzola”, the “Ponte sul Tanaro detto della Cittadella”, il “Campo del Littorio”.

A second core of the exhibition is represented by the photograph collections of Fondo Guerci, which the local authority purchased in the 1980s, an integral part of the archive of the Engineer Venanzio Guerci, preserved at the Civic Library, which includes the projects, drawings, work documentation, papers and personal
library.
The fund gathers photographs from the late 1800s to 1950 and is formed by family photos, work documentation and images of Alessandria.
The photographs on show include those depicting "Villa Pezzi -Vista sul canale", the ancient Canale Carlo Alberto, the 19th century "Ponte Cittadella" under construction, where workers and labourers have themselves photographed close to the worksite.
The third exhibition core presents several original albums and gelatin silver prints of Fondo Borsalino which, donated in 2002 by Giovanna Usuelli, is composed by 500 historic images which narrate private family moments, events related to the history of the factory founded by Giuseppe Borsalino in 1857 and its interaction with the city, the financed public works, the production phases of the hats and the photographs gathered and collected by the family.
The last exhibition chapter proposes images from Fondo Sartorio, purchased by the local authority in 1993, which is formed by about 100,000 gelatin silver prints, silver bromide gelatines on glass plates and polyester films. The Fondo gathers sixty years of activity of the photography studio founded by Domenico Sartorio in 1925 and continued until 1985 thanks to the work of his successors. The subjects of the images narrate the historical events of the city, showing important municipal buildings, industrial realities, views and panoramas of Alessandria and the province. The images proposed include elements characterising the history of the city such as the old Politeama, the railway station in the 19th century, interiors of the historic "Baleta" bar and several shops on Corso Roma at the beginning of the century.