Before and after 1900 were any photos of Italian immigrants taken for passports or other processing and if so are they retrievable?

Federal naturalization records usually have a picture in the 1900's. Naturalizations are in the National Archives.I suggest you check out Dead Fred's Genealogy Photo Archive http://www.deadfred.com

If photos were found somehow they might be in bad condition (because of weather and other things).

Photos were not required for US Naturalizations until sometime after the 1920s.