CONFERENCES
PRIN Conference
28-29 November 2024
XXX CONFERENCE OF FILM STUDIES
The “golden age” of Italian Animation.
From Economic Boom to the Years of Lead (1957-1977)
The XXX Conference of Film Studies, organised by the Department of Philosophy, Communication and Performing Arts of the Roma Tre University, proposes an exploration of the “golden age” of Italian animation in all its complexity, going to identify the main research trends both in its historical and theoretical aspects, and in its reflections on the productive and industrial scenario, as well as in the forms and practices of this audiovisual area. The Conference thus aims to provide a moment of shared reflection that outlines the state of the art of research on the models, languages, forms and practices of the period on which the PRIN 2022 research project focuses
Department of Philosophy, Communication and Performing Arts
Roma Tre University
Via Ostiense 139 – 00154 Rome
Palladium Theater
Piazza Bartolomeo Romano 8 – 00154 Rome
Thursday, 28th November – Polo aule DAMS
Aula 2.14
14:00
Registration students and speakers
14:30 – 15:00
Institutional Greetings
GIACOMO MANZOLI (Head of CUC – Consulta Universitaria del Cinema, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna), LUCA AVERSANO (Head of Department of Philosophy, Communication and Performing Arts, Roma Tre University), RAIMONDO GUARINO (Head of Communication and Performing Arts Section, Università degli Studi Roma Tre), ENRICO CAROCCI (Coordinator Degree Course DAMS, Roma Tre University), STEFANIA PARIGI (Roma Tre University), GIACOMO RAVESI (Roma Tre University), CHRISTIAN UVA (Roma Tre University)
15:00 – 16:40
Panel 1 – Industrie e modelli produttivi
Chair: BRUNO DI MARINO (Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma)
Riflessioni attorno alla produzione e distribuzione del cinema d’animazione italiano degli anni Sessanta
COSIMO TASSINARI (eCampus University)
Through the analysis of funds and repertoires, the paper aims to describe the economic, production and distribution context that enabled the ‘golden age’ of Italian animation cinema in the 1960s
Quando c’era Cinelandia. La Gamma Film tra modelli produttivi e pubblicità animata
MARTINA VITA (Roma Tre University)
The aim of this report is to present an examination of Gamma Film’s production models, explaining the main structuring stages of a cartoon project and the technological practices employed
Tempo e tempi dell’animazione di Carosello
GIUS GARGIULO (Université Paris Nanterre)
In Carosello, the times of stories with their pigtails on the product were a flow of tales of endless consumerist utopias to which the user could get used in order to build a universe of desire around him in the Italy of the economic boom. My communication tends to highlight this transition of stories from a closed frame to that of an open flow through the stories of Calimero, Papalla and other cartoons of the crucial period in the identity formation of the Italian nation
Il sogno animato di Carosello
MARCO GIUSTI (Film Critic)
Those of Carousel are 20 fundamental years, because they go through the Italian economic boom but they also go through Italian cinema. Cinema in 1957 was still, in general, simple and provincial, and in 1977 it is a completely different thing: genres are over, there are no longer any great directors
16:40 – 17:00
Coffee Break
17:00 – 18:30
Keynote Speaker: CRISTINA FORMENTI (University of Groningen)
Il laboratorio Cartoni Animati della Corona Cinematografica: uno studio d’animazione dal respiro internazionale
Respondent: MARCO BELLANO (Università degli Studi di Padova)
The report shows how the Laboratorio Cartoni Animati of Corona Cinematografica constituted a rare example of an Italian animation studio with an industrial character with an international scope. In particular, by bringing animation and European film studies into dialogue, it shows how Fables of Europe offered a model of European animation cinema
20:30
Event in collaboration with the Palladium Film Festival – CineMaOltre
Palladium Theater (Piazza Bartolomeo Romano 8)
Guests: BRUNO BOZZETTO and SIMONE TEMPIA about the book Il signor Bozzetto. Una vita animata (Rizzoli, 2023)
Film Screening: Sapiens? (B. Bozzetto, 2023) – 22′
Friday, 29th November – Polo aule DAMS
Aula 2.14
9:00
Registration students and speakers
9:30 – 11:10
Panel 2 – Società, sistemi culturali e pratiche del consumo
Chair: CHRISTIAN UVA (Roma Tre University)
Animati da serie questioni. Modelli sociali e familiari tra le logiche dell’animazione
VINCENZO ALTOBELLI (Roma Tre University)
The socio-historical processes inherent in the economic prosperity of the 1960s also led to the reification of human facts, establishing a similarity between things and people. The report examines the societal models and family structures represented, visualising the patterns adopted and which conveyed complex and questionable content through the elementary forms of animation
Scandaloso, osceno… eversivo? Forme e codici del pornocartoon italiano
MATTEO SANTANDREA (Roma Tre University)
Starting in the early 1970s, Italian animation found itself subject to a significant infiltration of the sexual subject. But is this eroticism an end in itself or is it possible to trace certain socially subversive instances in such works? Starting from this question, the report focuses on the forms and codes of the so-called Italian pornocartoon
Donne e animazione ai tempi di Carosello
ELENA MARCHESCHI (University of Pisa)
Very few women were recognised as authors in the Italian animation scene, at least until the 1980s. My paper aims to propose the first results of a reconnaissance and analysis of some animation films made between the 1960s and 1970s by artists such as Rosa Foschi, Maria Grazia Hay, Claudia Cossio and Marinella Pirelli
Vignetta o schermo? Questo è il problema…
Solidarietà creativa ed elementi dell’immaginario italiano tra fumetto e animazione
GINO FREZZA (University of Salerno)
The relationship between comics and animation in Italy is decidedly stringent. It is without any priority between one medium and the other. Frezza’s talk reconstructs this relationship by looking at its outcomes after the Second World War, identifying five figures of authors who were able to practise an intermedial relationship with a high cultural profile
11:10 – 11:30
Coffee Break
11:30 – 13:00
Keynote Speaker: MARCO BELLANO (University of Padua)
Il lungometraggio animato in Italia durante la “golden age”
Respondent: CRISTINA FORMENTI (University of Groningen)
The paper examines the style and production context of animated and mixed feature films produced during the ‘golden age’, studying the influence of Bruno Bozzetto, the contaminations with foreign models and above all the processes of variation and refinement of the particular limited animation developed in Italy during the ‘Carosello’ era
13:00 – 15:00
Lunch Break
15:00 – 16:40
Panel 3 – Forme autoriali
Chair: STEFANIA PARIGI (Roma Tre University)
Osvaldo Cavandoli, fedele alla Linea
RAFFAELLA SCRIMITORE (Independent Researcher)
An analysis of the character La Linea, which became part of the collective imagination thanks to Carosello. From the first experiences with animated puppets to the original creation for Carosello and beyond, an in-depth look at the characteristics that make the character La Linea unique as well as Osvaldo Cavandoli’s career in animation cinema
Prima di Carosello. Le pubblicità cinematografiche della Pagot Fllm (1949-1968)
ROBERTO DELLA TORRE (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore)
After the failure of the feature film I fratelli Dinamite (1949), Nino and Toni Pagot’s Pagot Film started an intense production of animated and life-like commercials for cinemas. These short works of great visual impact and intense narrative force testify to the new needs of post World War II Italy and the evolution of Italian animation forms
Gianini e Luzzati e l’armonia dell’animazione
SABRINA PERUCCA (Romics Artistics Director)
Giulio Gianini and Emanuele Luzzati, during the years of their artistic partnership, created great masterpieces of animation, made using the découpage technique, which allowed the pictorial qualities of Luzzati’s creations to be preserved. All in an extraordinary connection with music, between Rossini and Mozart. An analysis of their work and some of the works
Dare vita ai disegni e alle idee: lo straordinario caso dello Studio Bozzetto negli anni d’oro di Carosello
ANNA ANTONINI (Independent Researcher)
Buc il Bucaniere, testimonial for Castor washing machines between 1968 and 1969, is a happy example of how Bozzetto Film seized the opportunity offered by Carosello to break free from the limits of advertising, define an original design and ironically contain the blandishments of unbridled progress
16:40 – 17:00
Coffee Break
17:00 – 18:40
Panel 4 – Arti, tecniche e tecnologie animate
Chair: GIACOMO RAVESI (Roma Tre University)
L’animazione italiana della Golden Age come punta più alta del contemporaneo.
GIULIETTA FARA (University of the Republic of San Marino)
Animation cinema in Italy has followed clear paths since its origins, aligning itself with the most important contemporary trends. If we take it for granted that the division between the arts is largely surpassed precisely in the contemporary era thanks to Dadaism, Futurism, Pop Art and so on, then it is natural to liken the animations of Osvaldo Cavandoli, Bruno Bozzetto, the Pagot brothers and Armando Testa to artists such as Dali, Kandinskji, Balla or Mirò. Contemporary art chooses and proposes sharp caesuras with the past, advancing the definition of an art created through sharp lines, strong and flat colours, simple and symbolic figures, if not also abstract. Animation, likewise, follows these tracks faithfully
Tra fasi e passo uno: le quattro tecniche dei Carosello animati (e non solo)
LUCA RAFFAELLI (Journalist and essayist)
The paper examines the four fundamental techniques used in the animated works of the 1960s and 1970s: phase animation and the three of stop motion (puppets, plasticine and cut-out paper)
La musica nella golden age dell’animazione italiana: il caso di Franco Godi
VALERIO SBRAVATTI (Sapienza University of Rome)
Italian animation of the period shows a strong popular musical tendency. With the support of an ad hoc interview, we examine the emblematic case of Franco Godi, a composer specialising in the genre and collaborator of Bruno Bozzetto on several feature films as well as short films dedicated to Mr. Rossi
Animazioni di confine. Dallo schermo al teleschermo, andata e ritorno
FRANCESCO D’ASERO (University of Bari Aldo Moro)
Analysing the main trends of representation and observing some figurative contributions made by the Carosello cartoonists within fictional films, the paper aims to investigate the authorial connections and transmedia dialogues between the animated contents of the TV format and contemporary Italian cinema, exploring practices, models, techniques, graphic approaches and expressive codes capable of drawing a linguistic bridge between the small and big screen
18:40 – 19:00
Database Presentation: La “golden age” dell’animazione italiana
Conclusions
Conference Directors: Stefania Parigi, Giacomo Ravesi, Christian Uva
Coordination: Vincenzo Altobelli, Matteo Santandrea
Staff: Francesco D’Asero, Emanuele Ingrao, Martina Vita
Interns: Chiara Cucinella, Lorenzo Giuliano, Susanna Manca, Emanuela Nicotra
Graphics: Vincenzo Altobelli, Matteo Santandrea
Scientific Committee: Enrico Carocci, Mattia Cinquegrani, Leonardo De Franceschi, Ilaria A. De Pascalis, Lorenzo Marmo, Stefania Parigi, Ivelise Perniola, Marta Perrotta, Veronica Pravadelli, Giacomo Ravesi, Elio Ugenti, Christian Uva
Organisation: Department of Philosophy, Communication and Performing Arts – Roma Tre University
Head of Department: Luca Aversano
Head of Communication and Performing Arts Section: Raimondo Guarino
Administration: Attilio Durpetti (Head), Tiziana Ceriola, Marco D’Alessandro, Patrizia Necci, Andrea Pini, Sara Urdis
Fondazione Roma Tre Teatro Palladium
President: Riccardo Chiaradonna
Board: Giandomenico Celata, Ettore Sergio Giuliani, Maddalena Pennacchia, Christian Uva
Organisation and Logistics: Roberta Incerti
Artistic Organisation: Alessandra De Luca
Communication: Elisabetta Sacripanti
Technical Support: Luca Barbati – EasyLight
Degree Course DAMS
Coordinator: Enrico Carocci
Staff: Elisabetta Ferretti, Aurora Silvestri
Sponsorships
CUC – Consulta Universitaria del Cinema
Prin Project 2022 The “golden age” of Italian Animation. From Economic Boom to the Years of Lead (1957-1977)
Principal Investigator: Christian Uva (Roma Tre University)
Heads of the Research Units: Bruno Di Marino (Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma), Stefania Parigi (Roma Tre University), Giacomo Ravesi (Roma Tre University), Vincenzo Altobelli (Roma Tre University), Matteo Santandrea (Roma Tre University)
Involvement in other conferences
June 6-9, 2024, Sorrento, Sant’Anna Institute
Panel La golden age dell’animazione italiana, AAIS (American Association for Italian Studies) 2024 Annual Conference.
The panel – part of the outputs of the PRIN The “golden age” of Italian animation. From the Economic Boom to the Years of Lead (1957-1977) led by the Roma Tre University – intends to analyze the only historical moment in which Italian animation was able to assume the status of a solid and articulated system, capable of harmoniously holding together artist’s work and advertising product, short film and feature film, commitment film and consumer product, industrial mode of production and artisanal creation.
Chairs: Christian Uva (Roma Tre University), Stefania Parigi (Roma Tre University) and Giacomo Ravesi (Roma Tre University)
Gius Gargiulo (MoDyCo Université Paris Nanterre)
Il pulcino Calimero o l’animazione della microperipezia
Stefania Parigi (Roma Tre University)
Pino Zac. L’animazione della satira
Vincenzo Altobelli (Roma Tre University)
Amati e animati. Disegni da un matrimonio, coppie di cartone e sexylinee
Matteo Santandrea (Roma Tre University)
Nelle fonti del piacere. Animazioni erotiche nell’Italia degli anni ’70 da Gibba a Guido Manuli
Martina Vita (Roma Tre University)
Fotogrammi animati. Estetiche e tecnologie nella produzione Gamma Film
Giacomo Ravesi (Roma Tre University)
Punto e contrappunto. L’animazione cosmopolita di Cioni Carpi
Francesco D’Asero (University of Bari Aldo Moro)
Animated credits. Disegnare i titoli di testa nel cinema italiano
March 13-15, 2025, Philadelphia (PA), University of Pennsylvania
Panel La golden age dell’animazione italiana: sguardi autoriali | società e riflessi identitari, AAIS 2025 (American Association for Italian Studies) 2025 Annual Conference
The panel is part of the dissemination activities of a PRIN 2022 project funded by the MUR and conducted by the Roma Tre University. It aims to examine the “golden age” of Italian animation, the period between 1957 and 1977, a particularly crucial season for our country also from a historical, social, economic and political point of view. Organizer: Christian Uva (Roma Tre University).
Organizer: Christian Uva (Roma Tre University)
Chairs: Lucia Cardone (University of Sassari) e Giacomo Ravesi (Roma Tre University)
Stefania Parigi (Roma Tre University)
“Il cavaliere inesistente” da Italo Calvino a Pino Zac
Emilia Gambardella Camardo (Hunter College)
Animare la parodia: l’Allegro non troppo di Bruno Bozzetto
Giacomo Ravesi (Roma Tre University)
Sogni psichedelici e incubi distopici. Il cinema animato di Magdalo Mussio
Gius Gargiulo (Université Paris Nanterre)
Mia moglie aspetta un Philco! Il pianeta Papalla come mondo possibile impossibile del Carosello pubblicitario del Boom italiano
Christian Uva (Roma Tre University)
Il Signor Rossi di Bruno Bozzetto: una maschera italiana
Vincenzo Altobelli (Roma Tre University)
Animated Adultness. La forma elementare della complessità italiana
Matteo Santandrea (Roma Tre University)
Eversioni di cartone. L’animazione italiana come linguaggio di “contestazione”
9 October 2025, Venezia, Ca’ Foscari University
Research day
Lo stato e il futuro della ricerca. PRIN 2022 e prospettive emergenti: il contributo dell’area PEMM-01/B
EVENTS
19 June 2024
Omaggio Manfredo Manfredi. La Golden Age dell’animazione italiana, 60a Mostra Internazionale del Nuovo Cinema, June 14-22, 2024, Pesaro, www.pesarofilmfest.it
25 luglio 2024
Animaphix 2024. Nuovi Linguaggi Contemporanei Film Festival
Bagheria, 22 – 28 luglio 2024 / Villa Cattolica – Museo Guttuso
A mano libera – Arte e animazione in Italia (1957-1977)
Lectio magistralis a cura di Bruno di Marino
During this special lecture, Bruno Di Marino, film historian and critic, and professor of Theory and Method of Mass Media at the Academy of Fine Arts of Rome, will guide us through a journey dedicated to the Golden Age of Italian Animation, from the economic boom to the Years of Lead, through the screening of excerpts from some of the most important works of the period. The event is part of the PRIN 2022 – Projects of Relevant National Interest research project: The “Golden Age” of Italian Animation from the Economic Boom to the Years of Lead (1957–1977) – Roma Tre University, Academy of Fine Arts of Rome.
One Day an Airplane di Cioni Carpi /1963, 35mm / 5’00”
Primavera nascosta di Claudio Cintoli / 1969, 35mm / 10’ 00”
Il forziere della natura di Toni Fabris / 1956, 35mm / estratto
Ma Femme di Rosa Foschi / 1969, 35mm / estratto
La gazza ladra di Giulio Gianini, Lele Luzzati / 1964, 35mm / 10’00”
Commutazioni con mutazione di Paolo Gioli / 1969, 16mm / 6’35”
Il fagiolo d’oro di Magdalo Mussio / 1968, 35mm / estratto
Vedo, vado! di Luca M. Patella / 1969, 35mm / 10’ 00”
Gioco di Dama di Marinella Pirelli / 1961-63, 16mm / estratto
Selezione di sigle tv anni ’70 di Mario Sasso / estratto
1st April 2025
Palladium Theater | Piazza Bartolomeo Romano 8 – 00154 Rome
Screening of the feature film Il cavaliere inesistente (Pino Zac, 1969 – 97′) inspired by Italo Calvino’s 1959 namesake novel , in the 4K restoration curated by Cinecittà in collaboration with CSC – Cineteca Nazionale.
The event was attended by Giulio Ciancamerla (Sapienza University of Rome – Laboratorio Calvino), Stefania Parigi (Roma Tre University) and Christian Uva (Roma Tre University) in conversation with three secondary schools in Rome: Istituto Magistrale Statale “Gelasio Caetani”, Istituto Cine-Tv “Roberto Rossellini”, and Liceo Ginnasio “Torquato Tasso”.
Exhibitions
A MANO LIBERA
Arte e cinema d’animazione in Italia
(1957-1977)
Ceccobelli / Cintoli / Fabris / Foschi / Gianini & Luzzati / Gioli / Granchi / Manfredi / Mussio / Pascali / Patella / Pirelli / Sasso
Museo di Roma in Trastevere
Piazza S. Egidio 1b – Roma
13 June – 12 October 2025
The Museo di Roma in Trastevere is hosting A mano libera. Arte e cinema d’animazione in Italia, an exhibition project dedicated to the connections between Italian artists and animated cinema between 1957 and 1977. The project was developed as part of The “Golden Age” of Italian Animation. From the Economic Boom to the Years of Lead (1957-1977) – PRIN 2022, sponsored by Roma Tre University and Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma.
The exhibition is sponsored by Roma Capitale, Assessorato alla Cultura, Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali e Servizi museali di Zètema Progetto Cultura.
A mano libera – curated by Bruno Di Marino – features around a hundred works of various kinds (drawings, paintings, storyboards, cels, backgrounds, puppets, photographic works, etc.) and about thirty films, all created over a span of twenty years, from 1957 to 1977. This period also saw the broadcast of Carosello, a popular TV program that not only influenced Italian consumer habits and social customs but also played a key role in strengthening domestic animation production.
Opening hours: From Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 AM – 8:00 PM.
Last admission one hour before closing.
A MANO LIBERA
Arte e cinema d’animazione in Italia
(1957-1977)
ARTE E ANIMAZIONE IN ITALIA
dal dopoguerra agli anni ’70
tavola rotonda
Museo di Roma in Trastevere
Piazza S. Egidio 1b – Roma
2 October 2025
PUBLICATIONS
Stefania Parigi, Giacomo Ravesi, Christian Uva (a cura di), La “golden age” dell’animazione italiana. Dal boom economico agli anni di piombo (1957-1977), Marsilio, Venezia 2025.
Bruno Di Marino (a cura di/edited by), Arte e cinema d’animazione in Italia (1957-1977). Art and Animated Film in Italy, catalogo della mostra, Dario Cimorelli Editore, Milano 2025.
Giacomo Ravesi, Manfredo Manfredi. Un animatore dei nostri tempi, in Pedro Armocida, Carla Scura (a cura di), Catalogo della 60a Mostra Internazionale del Nuovo Cinema, pp. 175-182, Fondazione Pesaro Nuovo Cinema Onlus, Pesaro 2024, ISBN: 9788894799101, https://www.pesarofilmfest.it/images/docs/2024/pff60_catalogo.pdf
