The history of the Italian peninsula is characterized by exposure to natural hazards due to geological fragility, intense volcanic and seismic activity, and hydrographic vulnerability associated with the Mediterranean climate. This volume aims to explore how Italian cinema, audiovisual imagery, and visual culture have reflected on this distinctive feature of the Italian territory and landscape. In doing so, it questions the very concept of catastrophe, beginning with its being visible: can catastrophe actually be seen? In what ways can it be represented? And how do images of catastrophe contribute to the development of a collective identity? Through different disciplinary approaches — primarily film studies, but also philosophy and sociology — the volume seeks to offer a new perspective on Italian cinema and visual culture.
Simona Busni is Associate Professor at the University of Catania. She has published widely in national and international journals. She is the author of three books: La voce delle donne. Le sconosciute del melodramma, da Galatea a Lucia Bosè (2018), Michelangelo Antonioni. L’alienista scettico (2019), which received the Limina Award 2020 for Best Italian Film Studies Book, and Tre regine per una corona. ‘The Crown’ e la nuova era del royal biopic (2024). She is Associate PI of the Research Project of National Relevance ‘CAOS — Catastrophes of Southern Italy. Photogénie and Remediation of Natural Disasters’ (PRIN 2022 PNRR).
Angela Maiello is Senior Researcher at the University of Calabria. She is the author of L’archivio in rete (2015), ‘Gomorra’ — La serie: la famiglia, il potere, lo sguardo del male (2016), and Mondi in serie: l’epoca postmediale delle serie tv (2020). She has co-edited the volumes Virale: il presente al tempo dell’epidemia (2020) and Quasi viventi: il mondo digitale dalla A alla Z (2024). She is the director of Repetita, a book series focused on television series, and serves as coordinator of the editorial board of the scientific journal Fata Morgana. She is the PI of the Research Project of National Relevance ‘CAOS — Catastrophes of Southern Italy: Photogénie and Remediation of Natural Disasters’ (PRIN 2022 PNRR).