Il cultore del film. Didattica, ricerca e istituzioni culturali cinematografiche nel dopoguerra - The Film Scholar. Cinematographic Teaching, Research and Cultural Institutions in the Post-war Period

The present essay seeks to reconstruct, as faithfully as possible, Mario Verdone’s experience as a promoter of cinematographic culture in various academic cercles, integrating what was already known with new material, recently acquired by Luigi Chiarini library at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. Although his academic engagement had a different origin in respect to his filmic experiences (he was a volunteer assistant in Law Philosophy at the University of Siena already in November 1940), it was in this study sector that he succeeded in fostering many relevant experiences, both national and international. In particular, in the Fifties his participation to Filmology courses, cinematographic culture classes and other experiences in many Italian Universities represented some of the relevant activities that would lead him to obtain the libera docenza (lecturing post) in Cinema History and Critics in 1965.