A surprising Assisi of the 30s and 60s in a documentary film. First screening open to all

A journey through the visual memory of Assisi between the 1930s and 1960s takes shape in the docufilm “Assisi 1930-1960. Thirty years of black and white films”, which will be screened for the first time in the city on 30 December at 5.30pm, with free admission, in the Conciliation room of the town hall. The work, lasting 55 minutes, is signed by Michele Patucca and Pietro Cogolli and is created from rare amateur films by the engineer Almachilde Chiarini, director of the municipal technical office from 1938 to the 1960s.

The images, digitized in 4K and restored, provide an unprecedented look at the life of the city over a period of thirty years, including civil and religious events, public works, family scenes and glimpses of an Assisi that has now disappeared. A heritage of great documentary value, also because there is no other film footage of the city from that period, with the exception of some well-known films from the Istituto Luce.

The story is accompanied by short interventions by local scholars, designed to contextualize the images without breaking the narrative and emotional thread. The initiative is promoted by the Municipality of Assisi as part of the celebrations for the eighth centenary of the death of Saint Francis.

Almachilde Chiarini, born in Senigallia in 1896, graduated in engineering in Rome and arrived in Assisi in 1938 to direct the municipal technical office. Passionate about cinema, he began filming as early as the 1920s with a Pathé Baby camera, building over time a veritable film library which today allows us to re-read, through intimate and collective images, a fundamental chapter in the history of the city.