itemset
Mario Alberto Argnani (1884-1959) was an important figure in Ravenna’s social life during the first half of the 20th century. He was a baker and also director and founder of associations and cooperatives for workers and bakers. He was also a philanthropist at the Republican Club ‘Mazzini’ in Ravenna.
Alongside his successful entrepreneurial career, Argnani was a photography enthusiast. In the 1920s, he founded a group of amateur photographers within the Ravenna Tourist and Hikers Club. Using a Rolleiflex camera – one of the ‘portable’ models that made photography accessible to a wider audience – Argnani captured numerous images of considerable artistic and documentary value, immortalizing a
Ravenna that feels very distant from today. Many of these photographs are now preserved in the Argnani photographic archive, which comprises around 600 small-format images gathered in three albums.
His photographic abilities did not go unnoticed: he was selected as one of the official photographers for the prestigious Circuito del Savio, documenting every edition of the race held between 1923 and 1927. In addition to the images of racing cars and motorcycles, the Argnani photographic archive also features many of the leading figures of that important period, including Tazio Nuvolari, Emilio Materassi, and Enzo
Ferrari.
