2 minutes read

Coordinator: Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM)

Funding entity: Ministero della Cultura (Contributi per il funzionamento di biblioteche non statali aperte al pubblico)

DESCRIPTION

Sixty years after the publication of the last volume of “Stampa e oro nero”, a digitization project was carried out to celebrate this work which stands out for

“A polemical originality that was somewhere between the irony , retaliation and pride”
Marcello Boldrini, Enrico Mattei (Roma: [s.n.], 1968), p. 4.

It is a collection of over 15.000 color shots, browsable and made available on the Foundation’s website.

Published periodically as supplements to other periodicals, to avoid infringements of copyright, the volumes were distributed not only to friends and collaborators, but also to prominent opposition figures, showing Enrico Mattei’s ironic and never-giving feature.

They collected all the attacks directed against Enrico Mattei and ENI by the national and international press, starting from 1949. Equip by tables with caricatures, they were published until 1963, the year following the death of its founder. The XXXVI volume represents a unicum within the collection since, unlike the previous ones, it has its own title “La vetta”, in which the comments, portraits and obituaries written around the world for Mattei’s death are collected.

 “A precious weapon of struggle”, as can be read in the letter dated 18 March 1960 addressed by Manlio Magini to Enrico Mattei, to show how, with stubbornness and a pinch of irony, the greatest challenges in the world can be faced and to encourage a widespread understanding of global issues between the parties and contribute to political engagement.

EXPECTED RESULTS

  • Color digitizations at 400 DPI for a total of 15400 shots
  • Creation of PDFs with OCR detection
  • Complete analysis and metadating
  • Online publication on the Foundation’s website

Policy/social impact

The project aims to enhance the documentary heritage with a dual purpose: conservative and informative, showing documents from the past useful not only for historical research, but also for reflection on the present.