La Pompei di Ragghianti e il documentario archeologico degli anni ’50

From its discovery, which took place in 1748, Pompeii was systematically illustrated with drawings and paintings by artists from all over Europe. It rapidly became a sort of lab in which the most important techniques of imagery were tested and verified. In 1958, the theorist and art historian Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti realized two short films devoted to Pompeii, Pompei urbanistica (Urban Pompeii) and Pompei città della pittura (Pompeii City of Painting). The aim of this essay is to analyze the way in which both of Ragghianti’s works revolutionized the making of archaeological and art documentaries and the cinematic portrait of the ancient Roman town.