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ABSTRACT
The 1960s and early 1970s definitely saw the generalized eroticization of Italian media; however, approximately from the second half of the 1970s, the sexualization of the mediascape was taken to its furthest extent, as the boundaries of explicit representation were broken and pushed from softcore towards hardcore. Through an exploration of the Italian adult press of the time and through an examination of the phenomenon of the ‘hardcore versions’ (Italian erotic films ‘pornified’ for export), this article provides a few starting points in order to draft a first (and necessarily partial) reconstruction of the stages through which pornography gained ground within the Italian cultural context during the second half of the 1970s.
Acknowledgements
The authors conceived and developed this article jointly. Giovanna Maina wrote the introduction and the second section, as well as the first paragraph of the conclusions. Federico Zecca wrote the third and fourth sections, as well as the second, third and fourth paragraphs of the conclusions.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 All translations from Italian are made by the authors, except where indicated otherwise.
2 For instance, the first Italian translation of Human Sexual Response by William H. Masters and Virginia Johnson (Citation1966) was published in 1967 by Feltrinelli (Milan), with the title L’atto sessuale nell’uomo e nella donna. Indagine sugli aspetti anatomici e fisiologici [Sexual Intercourse in the Male and the Female: Investigation on Anatomical and Physiological Aspects].
3 In order to help international readers (non-Italian speakers) orient themselves in the jungle of the Italian erotic production of the 1960s and 1970s, all of the movies mentioned in this article have been quoted as follows. When a film is mentioned for the first time: world wide international English title (as listed on the Internet Movie Database) if available, or US theatrical title if world wide title is not available; in both cases, the English title is accompanied by the Italian original title (in italics); and when no English title is available, Italian original title accompanied by literal translation (in Roman), if necessary. For all following mentions: world wide/US title only or Italian title only.
4 Blasetti’s movie earned 286 million lira in its first run and 1210 million lira at the end of its cycle of exploitation (Spinazzola Citation1974, 319). On the sexy pseudo-documentary and the Italian mondo movie, see Farassino (Citation2004), Goodall (Citation2006), De Berti (Citation2016), and Previtali (Citation2017).
5 King, monthly, first issue February 1967; publishers: Effetiemme Edirice, then Anthillis Editrice, Sharmly, Charme, and finally Intereuropa. Kent, monthly, first issue March 1967; publishers: Edizioni Kent, then Edip, and finally Edizioni del Giglio. On Men and Playmen, see second section.
6 Divorce was introduced in Italy by Law no. 898 (1 December 1970). In the years that followed, a movement of opinion led by the Christian Democrats asked for a recall referendum; the referendum was held in 1974 and the majority of the Italian people voted against a repeal of the Law. Abortion was made legal by Law no. 194 (22 May 1978); a recall referendum and another referendum that aimed instead at extending the action of the Law were held on 17 May 1981, in both cases being rejected by voters.
7 Both Goldrake and Isabella were created by Renzo Barbieri and Giorgio Cavedon for the publisher Editrice Sessantasei, then renamed Erregi Periodici. Diabolik was created by Angela and Luciana Giussani in 1962 for the publisher Astorina; Kriminal, created by Max Bunker (Luciano Secchi) and Magnus (Roberto Raviola), was first released in 1964 by the publisher Editoriale Corno. On the fumetti neri and sexy pocket comics, see among others Quintavalle (Citation1971), Spinazzola (Citation1995, 101–133), and Maina (Citation2019, 70–104).
8 On the transition from Pasolini’s Trilogy of Life to decamerotic and sexy comedy, see Maina and Zecca (Citation2020).
9 We have decided not to include in this study two other aspects of the Italian cultural scenario of the time: the massive ‘pornification’ of the Italian adult comics (Abruzzese and Barbiani Citation1980; Castaldi Citation2010; Giori Citation2015, Citation2016) and the pornographic colonization of the Italian privately owned television networks after the deregulation of broadcasting in the late 1970s (Grattarola and Napoli Citation2014, 55–63). Although important and closely related to the objects of this article, these two phenomena would require slightly different analytical tools and further historical and archival research.
10 Research for this article has been conducted via extensive sampling from the following magazines (1972–1978): Men; Le Ore; OS; OV; Caballero; I racconti erotici del mese; Pocket-Press; Privato – Formula Svedese; Proibito; E7 – Eros Sette; and La coppia moderna. All of these magazines have been personally acquired by the authors from different collectors, online vendors, and vintage magazine stores. Retrieval of the few available secondary sources has been carried out by perusing the online archive of the Italian daily newspaper La Stampa and consulting specific issues of the weekly news magazines Panorama and Il Mondo (1975–1978). Additional information can be found in Passavini (Citation2016) and Biagi (Citation2018).
11 On the extraordinary lives of Balsamo and Tattilo, which intercepted many historic cultural changes in Italian society, see Passavini (Citation2016) and Biagi (Citation2018).
12 Interestingly, similar adverts were featured on the pages of all of the most important Italian newspapers, although the judges did not seem to care. As a result of this inquiry, then editor-in-chief Attilio Battistini was put on trial in September 1974 and sentenced to four years and seven months on 26 January 1975, although remained at large for the whole duration of the trial (Passavini Citation2016, 167–173).
13 However, the Italian edition of the iconic American magazine was only published since 1972 (and by a mainstream publisher such as Rizzoli), when the market for erotica was already well established and thriving.
14 First released in November 1970 by publisher Saro Balsamo Editore Periodici d’Attualità, then renamed International Press (Milan).
15 First released in 1971 by E.M.E./Eredi Baracca (Milan).
16 Video Impulse was an important Italian magazine that featured detailed reviews of hardcore movies. Launched in 1992, it closed in the early 2000s.
17 OV – Ora Verità, launched in 1975, was published by Eredi Baracca (Milan). E7 – Eros 7 was published by Pino Ponzoni Editore (Milan), but at the moment we cannot find any reliable data regarding its first release.
18 However, according to the author (who does not cite the sources of her data), during 1976–1977 these 10 magazines saw a substantial decline, with 90,000 copies sold per week altogether against the average of 200,000 copies per week the same magazines were able to sell during 1972–1975.
19 According to Ugo Volli, several photoshoots featured in magazines such as Men, Playmen, and the like frequently resorted to the use of literary or mythological references, or employed more sophisticated photographic techniques, for the purpose of elevating themselves to the status of legitimate artistic production. Of course, the fact that some hardcore photoshoots of the late 1970s made use of similar expressive devices does not mean their goal was the same; rather, it looks like this specific stylistic format had somehow simply become a shared production habit, seamlessly ‘trespassing’ from one production context to another.
20 Some titles were entirely based on this specific category of texts, such as for instance Privato – Formula Svedese, launched in 1974 by the publisher International Paper, which proudly presented itself right from the cover as a ‘magazine entirely written by its readers’.
21 Ministry of Tourism and Spectacle, Report of the III Section of the Commissione di Revisione Cinematografica [Film Revision Committee], Certificate no. 67958, 10 February 1976.
22 Ministry of Tourism and Spectacle, Report of the I Section of the Film Revision Committee, Certificate no. 68208, 6 April 1976.
23 We must add that, notwithstanding the cuts made by the producer to comply with the requests of the Ministry, The French Governess was immediately targeted by the judiciary: released on 30 April 1976, it was seized on 8 May by order of the Public Prosecutor of Rome; however, on 20 May it was re-released by order of the Tribunale di Milano [Milan Court of Law], which dismissed the charges of obscenity made against the film.
24 Quote from the documentary Joe D’Amato Totally Uncut (1999), directed by Roger A. Fratter and written by Manlio Gomarasca and Davide Pulici (founders of the film magazine Nocturno). Established in 1994, the monthly magazine Nocturno has now become the main point of reference for the Italian B-movie and cult cinema enthusiasts.
25 Published in the magazine Cinesex, 16 November 1970 issue.
26 We have only included in this list the movies of which we know for sure that a hardcore version actually exists (either because we have watched it ourselves or because we have found enough reliable documents to prove it). As a consequence, we have excluded from the list all of those movies for which the existence of a hardcore version is not substantiated by objective evidence – despite the speculations of some film critics and fans of the genre: Il venditore di morte [The Death Dealer] (Enzo Gicca [Vincent Thomas], 1971), Le notti peccaminose di Pietro l’Aretino [The Sinful Nights of Pietro l’Aretino] (Manlio Scarpelli, 1972), Poppea … una prostituta al servizio dell’impero [Poppea: A Prostitute at the Service of the Empire] (Alfonso Brescia, 1972), Who Killed the Prosecutor and Why? [Terza ipotesi su un caso di perfetta strategia criminale] (Giuseppe Vari [Joseph Warren], 1972), Valeria dentro e fuori [Valeria Inside and Outside] (Brunello Rondi, 1972), Bruna, formosa, cerca superdotato [Shapely Brunette Seeks Well-endowed Man] (Alberto Cardone, 1973), Women in Cell Block 7 [Diario segreto da un carcere femminile] (Rino Di Silvestro, 1973), Diary of a Roman Virgin [Diario di una vergine romana] (Aristide Massaccesi [Joe D’Amato], 1973), La bolognese [The Woman from Bologna] (Alfredo Rizzo, 1975), Intimate Relations [La nuora giovane] (Luigi Russo, 1975), L’ingenua [The Naive Girl] (Gianfranco Baldanello, 1975), Che dottoressa, ragazzi! [What a Doctor, Guys!] (Gianfranco Baldanello, 1976), The Titbit [Il bocconcino] (Romano Scandariato, 1976), La professoressa di lingue [The Language Teacher] (Demofilo Fidani [Danilo Dani], 1976), La portiera nuda [The Naked Porter] (Luigi Cozzi, 1976), Taxi Love, servizio per signora [Taxi Love, Service for Ladies] (Sergio Bergonzelli, 1976), Gestapo’s Last Orgy [L’ultima orgia del III Reich] (Cesare Canevari, 1977), No alla violenza [No to Violence] (Gaetano Cimarosa [Tano Cimarosa], 1977), Alessia … un vulcano sotto la pelle [Alessia … A Volcano Under the Skin] (Alfredo Rizzo, 1978), Very Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind [Incontri molto ravvicinati del IV tipo] (Mario Gariazzo [Roy Garrett], 1978), Baby Love (Rino Di Silvestro, 1979), and Thrilling in Venice [Giallo a Venezia] (Mario Landi, 1979).
27 The data relating to the year of Italian distribution, the original Italian title, and the director’s name (or pseudonym) have been carefully verified by accessing the institutional database of the Associazione nazionale industrie cinematografiche audiovisive e multimediali (Anica) [National Association of the Film, Audio-visual, and Multi-media Industries]).
28 Distributed in France with the titles La Furie des sexes, Camilla, La Furie du désir, Deux males pour Alexa, Les Assoiffees du sexe, Orgies, mesdames les p … , Mon corps avec rage, Rêves lubriques, Obsessions charnelles, Voluptés érotiques, and Une suédoise sans culotte, respectively.
29 Distributed in France with the titles Nuits de grande chaleur and Dossier rose de la prostitution, respectively.
30 Between 1970 and 1982 the number of movie theatres decreased from 11,560 to 8453 (Brunetta Citation2003, 403).
31 There is a controversy regarding who actually directed Black Deep Throat. On the Anica database, this film is credited to Guido Zurli (with the pseudonym Albert Moore). Interviewed by cult cinema expert Marco Giusti during an episode of the television show Stracult (broadcast by Rai 2 on 10 August 2009), Zurli has nonetheless revealed that the film has been directed by Mario Bianchi, with the help of Romeo Ciatti and Vito Bruschini.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Giovanna Maina
Giovanna Maina is Associate Professor at the University of Turin (Italy), where she teaches Film and Gender, and History of Film Theory. She has worked on a Marie Curie IEF funded research project titled Degradation or Empowerment? Challenging Stereotypes About Women in Porn at the University of Sunderland (UK, 2013-2015). She is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the journal Porn Studies, and of the editorial staff of Cinéma & Cie: International Film Studies Journal. Her most recent books are Corpi che si sfogliano. Cinema, generi e sessualità su «Cinesex» (1969-1974) (ETS, 2018) and Play, men! Un panorama della stampa italiana per adulti (1966-1975) (Mimesis, 2019). Her main research interests are: gender representations in the media, Italian popular cinema, and contemporary alternative pornographies.
Federico Zecca
Federico Zecca is Associate Professor at the University of Bari “Aldo Moro” (Italy). He is editor of Cinéma & Cie: International Film Studies and Cinergie: Il cinema e le altre arti, member of the editorial board of Porn Studies, and coordinator of the Porn Studies Section of the MAGIS – Gorizia International Film and Media Studies Spring School. He has published widely on intermediality, media convergence, Italian popular cinema, and US pornography. Among his books: Gli estremi dell'hard. Due saggi sul porno contemporaneo (2013, with Stephen Maddison), Cinema e intermedialità. Modelli di traduzione (2013), and Porn after Porn: Contemporary Alternative Pornographies (2014, co-edited with Enrico Biasin and Giovanna Maina). He has recently co-edited the volume Oltre l'inetto. Rappresentazioni plurali della mascolinità nel cinema italiano (2021, with Angela Bianca Saponari).