In the Sign of Continuity: rotogravures and illustrated magazines in post-World War II Italy (1945-1957)

Authors

  • Dario Boemia Università IULM di Milano
  • Elena Gipponi Università IULM di Milano
  • Elena Lalatović University of Zagreb
  • Stefano Locati Università IULM di Milano

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62336/unibg.eac.35.574

Keywords:

Periodical studies, Italian illustrated periodicals, Postwar reconstruction, Visual culture , Text-image relationship

Abstract

Between 1945 and 1957, illustrated magazines became essential cultural tools in postwar Italy, navigating the tension between innovation and continuity with the fascist past. Periodicals emerged as visual and narrative laboratories, where text and image worked together to shape a new collective identity. Through periodical studies and interdisciplinary perspectives, the special issue explores changes in content, format, and language. Publications like Epoca, Tempo, Il Borghese, Grand Hôtel, and Civiltà delle macchine reflect the dynamic interplay between graphic tradition, modern aspirations, and shifting social contexts. Amid cultural revival, political reconciliation, and the resurfacing of national memory, illustrated magazines became privileged platforms to negotiate values, ideologies, and imaginaries.

Author Biographies

Dario Boemia, Università IULM di Milano

Dario Boemia is a research fellow at IULM University in Milan and adjunct professor of Graphic Journalism at Boston Col-lege Italy. His research interests include contemporary Ital-ian literature, periodical studies and comics. He co-edited the volumes Book Reviews and Beyond (2021, with S. Loca-ti), Immagine e testo nei periodici illustrati italiani degli anni trenta e quaranta (2024, with E. Gipponi and S. Locati) and For Real. Il fumetto italiano tra realtà e realismo (2024, with SNIF). He is the author of the monographs I denti dell'arte. La letteratura entre-deux-guerres nell'Italiano di Leo Lon-ganesi (2020) and Cronache letterarie negli anni del Boom. Recensioni sui quotidiani italiani (forthcoming 2025). He is a member of the editorial board of JEPS (Journal of European Periodical Studies) and of the research groups IUPS (Iulm University for Periodical Studies) and SNIF (Studying “n” In-vestigating Fumetti).

Elena Gipponi, Università IULM di Milano

Elena Gipponi is a researcher in Cinema, Photography and Television at the IULM University in Milan, where she holds the “Film Criticism Workshop” and the course “Colour Cul-tures in Cinema and Media”. Her research focuses on the cultural and material aspects of film and media technolo-gies, in particular colour. In 2020, she published the volume Una rivoluzione inavvertita. Dal bianco e nero al colore nello scenario mediale della modernità italiana (Mimesis). She is a member of the IUPS (IULM University for Periodical Stud-ies) research group on illustrated periodicals, with which in 2024 she edited Immagine e testo nei periodici illustrati italiani degli anni Trenta and Quaranta (with Dario Boemia and Stefano Locati, also for Mimesis). She has participated in various national and international research projects, the most recent of which include: PRIN2020: Atlante del Gial-lo. Storia dei media e cultura popolare in Italia (1954-2020)and PRIN2022: FilmBaseMatters: A Material Approach to the History of Small-Gauge Film in Italy, of which she is unit manager for IULM.

Elena Lalatović, University of Zagreb

Jelena Lalatović is a researcher in literary history, cultur-al studies and periodical studies. She obtained her PhD in periodical studies in 2023 at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade, with a thesis that was later pub-lished under the title Così fu temprato l’acciaio: la stampa studentesca e la lotta per l’università libera dal 1937 al 1968(2023). From 2018 to March 2025, she worked in the Depart-ment of Periodical Studies at the Institute of Literature and Art in Belgrade. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Liminal Waterways Countercultures project at the Fac-ulty of Humanities, University of Zagreb.

Stefano Locati, Università IULM di Milano

Stefano Locati is Rtd-A researcher in cinema at the IULM University in Milan, where he teaches "Asian visual cultures: cinema, comics, TV series” and “History of cinema”. His re-search interests include Japanese, Chinese and Korean cinema, media studies and periodical studies. His most recent volume is Sistema media mix. Cinema e sottoculture gio-vanili del Giappone contemporaneo (2022). He edited with Dario Boemia and Elena Gipponi Immagine e testo nei pe-riodici illustrati italiani degli anni trenta e quaranta (2024) and with Dario Boemia Book Reviews and Beyond. Critical Authority, Cultural Industry, and Society in Periodicals be-tween the 18th and the 21st Century (2021). He is the direc-tor of Electricdreams International Film Festival in Milan and a member of the IUPS (Iulm University for Periodical Stud-ies) research group.

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Published

21-07-2025

How to Cite

Boemia, D., Gipponi, E., Lalatović, E., & Locati, S. (2025). In the Sign of Continuity: rotogravures and illustrated magazines in post-World War II Italy (1945-1957). Elephant & Castle, (35), 2–15. https://doi.org/10.62336/unibg.eac.35.574

Issue

No. 35 (2025): I periodici illustrati nell'Italia del secondo dopoguerra: testo e immagine tra arte, cinema e letteratura

Section

Editoriale

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