numerous names were impressed with the riches of the area and worked their magic on the camera.
Carlo Naya studied law in Pisa before becoming a diplomat according to his father’s wishes. After his father’s death Naya embarked on a tour through Europe and Asia with his brother. During his stay in Paris in 1839 he was taught the daguerreotype process, which fascinated him.
In 1857 Naya traveled to Constantinople and then settled permanently in Venice where he became an optical instrument dealer and set up a photographic studio. Naya collaborated with Carlo Ponti who published and co-edited his pictures, from 1857 to 1868, when a dispute ended the alliance. In 1867 Naya documented the restoration of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. Naya was associated with the Société française de photographie.
Naya settled in Venice in 1857, where he set up a photographic studio. For several years he collaborated closely with photographer Carlo Ponti but in 1868 he founded his own studio. During his long career, Naya photographed every aspect of the city of Venice. His views of the palaces on the Grand Canal, and his panoramas of the city give a complete picture of Venice’s architecture in the mid-nineteenth century.
Naya was born in Tronzano di Vercelli in 1816 and studied law at the University of Pisa. An inheritance allowed him to travel to major cities in Europe, Asia, and northern Africa. He was advertising his services as portrait photographer in Istanbul in 1845, and opened his studio in Venice in 1857. He sold his work through photographer and optician Carlo Ponti.
Following Naya's death in 1882, his studio was run by his wife, then by her second husband. In 1918 it was closed and publisher Osvaldo Böhm bought most of Naya's archive.