Freddi's preliminary norms: Italy's censorship bureau

This article will focus on the Ufficio di Revisione Cinematografica (Bureau of Film Revision), more commonly known in the Italian film industry as ufficio censura (censorship bureau), which was created in 1913 and has been operative since, and whose task is to authorise the screening of films before their distribution in the territory. After a section delineating its origins and main legislative measures, I will discuss the bureau’s policies during the fascist period mainly through the illustration of some of the decisions taken by Luigi Freddi, a prominent figure in Italian cinema, who, although not ignored by historians for his political and cultural importance, has been surprisingly and comparatively neglected by researchers in Translation Studies. I will argue that his decisions, reflections and actions could shed further light on the complex role of preliminary norms (Toury 1995: 58) in that particular socio-historical context.