(AP Photo/Nuova Editoriale)
It was July 26, 1954. The Togni Circus brought elephants to Venice.
But how to get the pachyderms to a suitable place without endangering the stability of the bridges?
S. Polo camp was chosen. They arrived by train, then made the “Ponte degli Scalzi” (litterally “Bridge of the Barefoot”) raising the proboscis in parade and then off to S. Giacomo dell’Orio.
On this Venetian “adventure” of the past there is also a movie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MEwe6XL_ck), shot in 8 mm by Prof. Alviano Boaga, that I recommend you to see and watch what happens in the 2:45 minute!!!
Images unthinkable nowadays in many ways but then… it was magic.
Images speak for themselves.