Ubaldo Magnaghi (1903-79) was one of the co-founders of the Milan Cine-Club which merged into Cineguf (Fascist University Cine Groups). His second documentary film, Mediolanum (the ancient Roman name for Milan) was commissioned by Agfa, probably to demonstrate the superior quality of 16mm Agfa reversal film. In the film, Magnaghi’s Movex Agfa camera scans the facades of the Romanesque and Renaissance churches and castles of Milan, exploring their stone surfaces, gates, and sculptural reliefs. Using tilted angles, Magnaghi includes human figures in the background. Initially, modernity seems absent, only evoked by the presence of cables spanning the streets or a single car visible through an arcade in the lower part of a shot. In the second part of the film, which focuses on the Duomo, Magnaghi also includes high-angle shots of the square, showing pedestrians and motorized traffic. In addition, the last sequence of Mediolanum includes footage of Milan’s new architecture, showing the monumental classical modernism of architects such as Giovanni Muzio as well as the rationalist architecture with its preference for steel skeletons, geometric volumes, and glass surfaces.
Steven Jacobs
further reading
Carlo Montanaro, “Mediolanum,” in Le Giornate del cinema muto (Pordenone: Le Giornate del cinema muto, 2017), 94.
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