Photo Archives

This rich collection that traces back through the history of cinema and the art of photography consists of over 1,500,000 images. Historical photographs offer a wide panorama of the production in Italy from 1840 to 1940 and documents the work of top photographers such as Secondo Pia, Italo Bertoglio, Maggiorino Gramaglia, Domenico Riccardo Peretti Griva and Vittorio Zumaglino. The collection dedicated to the history of cinema, from silent (particularly Italian) films, to Italian and foreign sound cinema is also highly prestigious. Action stills and set shots, portraits and private shots of actors and directors taken ​​by famous people such as Angelo Frontoni. Thanks to the variety of materials in storage, today the Museum’s photo archive is a reference point not only for scholars but also for all those who intend to trace or discover the history of cinema and photography.

Portrait of Sardinian army trumpeter
Daguerreotype
Anonymous, Italy, 1850
 

Chieri, lato sud del Duomo (Chieri, South side of the Duomo)
Albumen print
Secondo Pia, Italy, 1st June 1897
Pia Fonds

Piccola orchestra (Little orchestra)
Photomontage, gelatin silver print
Maggiorino Gramaglia, 1930
Gramaglia Fonds

At the gasometer
Gelatin silver negative
Italo Bertoglio, Turin, 1932
Bertoglio Fonds

Ragazza sarda (Sardinian girl)
Bromoil transfer
Domenico Riccardo Peretti Griva, Italy, prior to 1933
M.T. Peretti Griva and G. Galante Garrone Fonds

Les lunatiques
Pathé Frères production, France, 1908
Action still attributed to the film. Gelatin silver print
Anonymous, Paris, February 1908 ca.
Chomón Ruiz Fonds

Cabiria
by Giovanni Pastrone, Italy, 1914
Action still. Hand-coloured slide
Anonymous, 1914 ca.
Pastrone Fonds

Miracle in Milan
Miracolo a Milano
by Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1951
Screen tests for the tramps on the set made by Giacomo Pozzi Bellini, 1950

Teorema
by Pierpaolo Pasolini, Italy, 1968
Reportage on the set, Silvana Mangano. Color slide
Angelo Frontoni,  1968 ca.
Frontoni Fonds

La cagna
by Marco Ferreri, Italy-France, 1972
Marcello Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve on the set. Gelatin silver print
Photo by Angelo Frontoni, 1972 ca.
Frontoni Fonds

Services

Loan of materials

The loan of original materials must follow the procedure of the Superintendences, as outlined in the document   

Conditions of loan

Digital reproductions

The digital reproduction of original materials involves the payment of a fee which varies depending on the use as indicated in the Price list.
If the goods required have not been reproduced already, the applicant will have to cover, in addition to the  reproduction costs, the cost of any potential restoration. It should be noted that in certain cases the Museum owns the original materials but not the economic rights relating to the same. Therefore, if he/she plans to reproduce such goods, the applicant must obtain the necessary consent by those entitled, thereby absolving the Museum from any responsibility in this regard.
Those requesting a loan will need to fill in a form, depending on the purpose of their request:

Reproduction for motives of study and research

Request for the permission to publish

Authorisation for reproduction and exhibition

The document must be sent to the Collections department (mail: basano@museocinema.it).

Contacts

Roberta Basano
tel. +39.011.8138.522
mail: basano@museocinema.it