Hitler came on our honeymoon! Unseen pictures of The Fuhrer on tour in Naples unearthed in long-lost black and white collection of family vacation photos found in a Virginia thrift store

Pictures of the infamous leader were found in rolls of an unidentified family's holiday snaps from the 1930s
Photography enthusiast Matt Ames was shocked to find the historical images on the film he bought at a thrift store

Photography enthusiast Matt Ames was pleased to find some rolls of old film among the usual collection of discarded bric-a-brac lining the shelves of a backstreet thrift shore in Virginia.

But what Mr Ames didn't realise was that he'd accidentally stumbled upon a piece of Europe's wartime history - as captured by a young American couple who appeared to be on their honeymoon in Italy.

For among the 400 or so negatives on the 35mm nitrate films, he was shocked to uncover previously unseen photos of Adolf Hitler touring Italy at the height of his powers.

The pictures were taken by a mystery photographer, who Mr Ames believes may either have ended up living in the city of Roanoke, where the films were purchased, or New York, which is featured in many of the photos.

Among the scores of holiday snaps and family photos, the pictures - taken in the years before the Second World War - reveal the unknown photographer's brush with the 20th century's most infamous leaders.

In one of the forgotten photos, Hitler is pictured sitting next to King Emmanuel III of Italy during a parade in Naples in 1938 after the Fuhrer had viewed fellow fascist leader Benito Mussolini's naval fleet in the Mediterranean.

Mr Ames, who has held an exhibition of the photos in Martinsville, Virginia, said: 'In 2013 I found several rolls of negatives in a thrift store in Roanoke, Virginia. They were standard 35mm, black and white and some of the rolls were clearly nitrate film.

'Much to my surprise the film included photographs of Hitler and King Emmanuel on parade, other Nazi images from Naples, Italy in the Spring of 1938, numerous photos of Naples city life, Pompeii and photos of Manhattan.'

+22

Pictures of Adolf Hitler - sitting on the left beside King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy - were uncovered on films found in a thrift store in Roanoke, Virginia by photography enthusiast Matt Ames

+22

Mystery couple: The roll of vacatation snaps also includes a picture of the photographer and a woman thought to be his wife. The man is thought to have worked for Mobil Oil

+22

Hitler visited Italy in 1938 to meet with fellow Axis leader Benito Mussolini. The photos uncovered in Virginia are believed to show him after he viewed Italy's naval fleet

+22

Hitler (circled) is pictured receiving fascist salutes from Italian troops, who lined the seafront road in Naples for his visit

+22

The images show Hitler's cavalcade surrounded by motorcycle outriders as he is paraded along the streets of the southern Italian city

+22

The pictures also appear to show young members of Mussolini's Gioventu Italiana del Littorio or GIL youth movement, which was similar to the Hitler Youth in Germany

+22

Hitler took a tour of Italy in 1938, and joined Mussolini and the king on board the battleship Conte di Cavour in Naples to watch military exercises

+22

The photographer managed to capture a picture of the Italian fleet, which was amassed of the coast for the Fuhrer's visit

+22

The pictures also offer an insight into the fascist architecture being built in Italy at the time, with swastikas adorning a number of public monuments (above and below)