The project aims to analyze the physiognomy and action of institutional censorship (initially regulated by Bill 407 of December 12, 1944) of the Republican period, which limited the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution with preventive actions (for the show business sector) and repressive (for the press, censurable only once was published).
G. Andreotti, head of the office from 1948 to1953, set the tone by employing the old MinCulPop censors and the principles of Pius XI¿s Vigilanti cura encyclical (1936). Post-war Italian culture (writers, directors, screenwriters) was conditioned not only through promotions and failures but also in terms of critical judgment.
In order to understand the phenomenon, which was uneven due to the several sectors involved (cinema, theater, literature, television, radio, press) and the cultures in play (the old fascist culture, now outlawed; the communist or socialist one, especially in the harsh phases of Cold War) and because of the almost infinite variations and evolutions of the so-called ¿common sense of decency¿, we have decided to devote this research to the years of the so-called First Republic (1946-1989).
In addition to reconstructing the institutional workings (legal arrangements; structure and composition), of the sectors affected (cinema, theater, literature, radio and television), the debate it aroused (magazines, pamphlets), the lexicon that characterized it (construction of a glossary), this research also includes censorship cases divided into 4 sections (literature, cinema, theater, radio and television), each organized in the following levels: 1) subjects of censorship (works or authors); 2) biographical and intellectual profile of censors; 3) mechanisms of production (publishing, theatrical, cinematographic, radio and television) in relation to the institutional machine; 4) census, inventory and cataloging of archival collections in accordance with the Central State Archives.
The innovativeness of the project consists of:
1) its scientific content, since in the state of partial or sectorial contributions (those of the proponent and the few titles mentioned in the framework Project framework and state of the art), there is a total absence of any overall work on censorship in the second half of the 20th century that goes beyond the mere rundown of facts, to provide a comprehensive critical and interpretive framework. Furthermore, the project would make it possible to upgrade archival collections and documents of great importance in Italy's cultural history that have been ignored or little studied until now (see Documentary sources);
2) in enhancing the cultural profile of the Dipartimento di Lettere e Culture moderne by proposing a research rooted in the sectors L-FIL-LET/10, L-FIL-LET/11, L-FIL-LET/13, MSTO/08, SPS/03, L-ART/05 and L-ART/06. The interdisciplinary character of the project plans on employing many humanities skills: from literary criticism (for the study, starting from data relating to censorship, of the reception in post-war Italy of classical texts and contemporary, and for its critical-interpretive repercussions), to history-philology (to investigate an aspect of the history of culture and institutions still to be explored and, at the same time, to gain specific insights into the evolution of contemporary texts due to censorship intervention, as in the case of cuts and changes to texts and compulsory author variants), archivism (in view of the processing of archival documents and the drafting of the inventory of the FRT) and relating to the history of entertainment (cinema, theater and radio and television, for analysing censored works or artists, and the relationship between censorship and production media).
3) network between Sapienza University of Rome and institutions of the same territorial area (ACS, Archive of the Luigi Sturzo Institute, the private archives of the authors, Museo Biblioteca dell'Attore di Genova, Fondazione Gramsci of Rome, see above) with some of which agreements are already in place (see external partners). The digital tools created with the support of ACS and MiC (as in the case of the Movio platform, see point 6) will be able to interact and create a system with the network of technologies suitable for archival and bibliographic cataloguing and for upgrading research products already prepared by the Sapienza Community;
4) in creating new scientific tools (cataloguing the FRT of the Acs and making the collection¿s inventory available to the community of scholars);
5) in transmitting new content to a large audience by preparing the documentary and the exhibit. The latter would be in direct continuity with the documentary exhibits on contemporary censorship already carried out: Si disapprova: mostra documentaria con materiali inediti dagli archivi della censura e opere di arte visiva, curated by M. Graziosi and P. Raffaelli (published catalogue: Rome, ANICA, 1999), and the most recent concerning fascist theatrical censorship (Theatrical censorship and fascism, online at Movio) and film censorship (at http://cinecensura.com/);
6) in combining traditional methods of critical-literary and archival research with innovative digital tools, through the use of IT platforms for creating virtual exhibits and the database on the FRT inventory. The database will be supported by the X Dams platform already used by the ACS for other digital collections.
To disseminate the results, the project outlined so far is eligible for inclusion in the Catalogue of Good Cultural Practices promoted by the Lazio Region, as it meets the requirements of the Department of Culture and Youth Policies (upgrading, promotion and communication of cultural heritage, networking between local structures, innovation and dissemination of research products among the citizenry).
Further development potential: international research project with the aim of tracing a comprehensive picture of the phenomenon (censored authors and works; reconstruction of the debate; history of censorship and institutions; cultural policies promoted by political parties and cultural institutes; link between censorship, propaganda and funding).