Modernity
The arrival of modernity, or the arrangement of the Walloon fund and the engineering projects realized by Falcon, did not interrupt the pilgrimage of the artists – on the contrary, the Walloon was enriched with more images.
Enrico Falcon was liberal, anticlerical and anti-bourbon; he loved architecture and had traveled extensively. He thought of enhancing the bottom of the valley by rebuilding a mill from its foundations and transforming it into a steam mill.
It was an innovative enterprise, which followed the most advanced bourgeois Europe model.
In 1848 Enrico Falcon, wanted by the Bourbon police for his liberal ideas, fled to Paris with his wife Josephin, who died shortly after, while the engineer returned to Sorrento in 1851, where he defended his business from attacks of political and economic obstacles.
In 1861, Falcon naturally participated in the unification of Italy.

Enrico Falcon (Naples 1810-1868 Naples) completed in Paris
[Photograph by Mayer & Pierson Paris.
Mathieu private archive, courtesy]

Josephin Sicard (1819-1851 Paris)
[«Grandmère Falcon-Sicard», drawing on cardboard.
[courtesy of Mathieu private archive]

«Drawn by W. Havel – Eng. by F. J. Havel».
Drawing by William Havell and engraving by Frederick James Havell.


William Havell in a self-portrait of 1838
[Mapei 1864, p. 109]
[Mapei 1864, p. 109]

«Drawn by W. Brockedon from a sketch by Mrs. J. Davenport – Engraved by J. T. Willmore».
Drawing by William Brockedon, engraving by James Tibbitts Willmore.
[Rotili 1977, tav. XLVI; Miniero, Ercolano 1990, p. 18; Cuomo 2005, pp. 68-69]
From the mid-nineteenth century photographers replaced painters
Being able to photograph the violent contrast between light and shadow was challenging and emotionally expressive

Ziegler was a photography studio on Boulevard de Capucines in Paris.
[Fiorentino 1991]

[Filangieri 1929, p. 69]
The bridge with the view of the mill and a local figure became one of the favorite subjects, endlessly reproduced in postcards for the tourist market until the early twentieth century
The valley of Sorrento became the “valley of the mills.”
[«Surrentum», anno II, n. 5 luglio 1983]
[Cuomo 2013]
[Fiorentino 1991, 97]
[Petagna, Siniscalchi 2003, p. 99]