The project aims to examine the “golden age” of Italian animation, that is, the period between 1957 and 1977: a particularly crucial period for our country also from the historical, social, economic and political point of view. On the one hand, the two years named above coincide exactly with the beginning and the end of Carosello, the advertising solution of national television in which animation gained its own space of absolute significance, quickly becoming one of the strongest sectors of the Italian cultural industry itself. In fact, the massive achievement of the advertising, demanding more and more content, also animated content, allowed the latter to acquire a dimension in Italy where craftsmanship and industry merged, ideally configuring a sort of “studio system” of Italian animation over those 20 years. On the other hand, the period also saw the shaping of the country change profoundly, initially
leading Italy to enjoy a period of unprecedented industrial expansion, and subsequently to enter a dramatic period of economic and social crisis culminating in the explosion of political violence and terrorism.
The aim of the project is therefore to organically analyse for the first time the only historical moment in which Italian animation managed to assume the status of a significant, articulated system capable of harmoniously uniting artistic work and an advertising product, short and feature films, socially/politically committed films (cinema d’impegno) and consumer products, industrial production methods and artisan creation. Beyond a few studies focused on individual phenomena, there is in fact a complete void in the research for projects which have set the objective of keeping the different and multiple directions that characterise this fortunate
era of Italian animation together. This project shows on the one hand the various and reciprocal interrelationships, and on the other, the relationships with real contemporary live action cinema, and more generally, with the historical, social and cultural context of the time.
The project will be articulated as follows: firstly, a theoretical survey and an update of the methodological framework which aims to integrate animated practices within the social, cultural and technological processes active in the Italian society of the period. This will be followed by an operational and central phase of research, testimony and mapping of the animation made in the period and its relationships and influences with the Italian cultural industry of those years (cinema, television, press, photography, visual arts, design). The last phase will include dissemination of the results to both the national and international academic sphere, as well as the scientific dissemination designed for a wider audience, based on different cultural policy strategies focusing both nationally and internationally.

PRIN 2022
Principal Investigator:
Christian Uva (Rome Tre University)

Co-Investigators:
Stefania Parigi (Rome Tre University)
Giacomo Ravesi (Rome Tre University)
Bruno Di Marino (Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma)