ROYAL COLONIAL TROOPS CORPS OF ERITREA.
Rotabile Militare. Nefasit-Decamere. MCMXV-MCMXXII.
ASCARI TROOPS IN ERITREA
Very rare. The Regio corpo truppe coloniali d’Eritrea were active from 1885-1946. This album was likely privately printed by the Italian army for officers overseeing the construction of the nearly forty-kilometre road between Nefasit and Dekemhare in 1915-1922.
The captions indicate which section (by kilometre) of the road depicted and the photographs, especially in the panoramas, feature some beautiful scenery. Other images prioritise the business of construction - lime and brick kilns - and we see Ascari troops building bridges and roads, as well as marching. The last photograph shows Eritrea Governor Giovanni Cherina Ferroni inaugurating the new road before an assembled company of Ascaris.
The folding map at the rear shows the new route marked in red. The engineer’s report include an elevation profile.
OCLC locates a single copy at Yale.
