Claudio Bertieri

Claudio Bertieri’s archive and collections reflect the sedimentation of the critic’s daily work and research process, preserving objects and memorabilia simultaneously. As an intellectual, film critic, festivals and cultural promoter, comics and graphic art collector, Bertieri has collected magazines, drawings, photos, brochures, posters, and ephemeral materials related to cinema and film production. The different elements show the development of socio-cultural practices connected to cinema, comics, and art. This personal archive is maintained at the Mario Novaro Foundation in Genoa, and among the images and pictures, especially those relating to two actresses, Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren, are particularly relevant. Since their debuts, Lollobrigida and Loren’s bodies, beauty, and careers were interpreted as similar, while their images consolidated the stars’ cinematic imagery. Bertieri focuses on the paratextual materials, composing the narration of their star identities. This paper emphasizes the characteristics of Bertieri’s archive and collections through the Loren and Lollobrigida’s case studies.