Inauguration of the Railway Line from Naples to Portici, Italy, 1839
People of all classes flocked to the inauguration of new railway lines. This lithograph by the Italian artist Salvatore Fergola depicts the opening of the first railway line in Italy, which ran from Naples to Portici, a town five miles south of Naples. Portici housed a royal palace and offered access to Herculaneum, an important classical ruin visited by many foreigners. (By Salvatore Fergola, Museum San Martino, Naples, Italy / photo © Roger Viollet / The Image Works.)