Historic images document Hitler in Italy

Roanoke artist and historian Matt Ames last year purchased a batch of old film cans at a thrift store for $10. Hidden in the rolls of negatives, he found a glimpse of the world’s darkest history.

The as-yet unidentified photographer who shot the rolls of 35mm film inside the canisters captured images of Adolf Hitler’s visit to the Italian coastal city of Naples in May 1938.

Ames has had digitized versions of the photos, which have been on display on his Facebook page for about five months. On Wednesday, following a friend’s suggestion, he notified the photography news blog PetaPixel of his discovery, and within hours his set of found photos had gone viral on Flickr, reaching more than 41,000 hits as of Monday night. Major websites such as Gizmodo and the British newspaper Daily Mail wrote about the photos, spreading the word even further.

The Daily Mail sensationalized what appear to be vacation pictures in classic tabloid style, trumpeting “Hitler came on our honeymoon!” in a headline.