Counter-Narratives of the Miracle. The Image of Italy in the Mondo Genre

As rightly pointed out by the international literature on the topic, one of the main visual (and ideological) focuses of the mondo genre was the exploration of the exotic, with various movies devoted to African rites and tradition. It is interesting to notice, by the way, that in various of the mondo movies produced during the ‘60s we can detect a peculiar interest for Italy as well. As the paper will try to demonstrate this intriguing recurrence of scene can be understood if considered within the wider “anti-humanistic” ideological project of mondo guru Gualtiero Jacopetti. In his movies the scenes that take place in Italy show us a degraded nation, still corrupted by anachronistic rites and beliefs. In this sense we can consider this kind of images as a very personal counter- narrative of the economic Miracle and – at the same time – as a precise strategic move that helped to strengthen the stereotypical reading of Italian South as a poor and underdeveloped region, inhabited by an obscure religious credulity.