Un codice italiano per la cinematografia. Censura e autocensura preventiva 1944-1962

This article investigates preventive censorship in Italian cinema in a period spanning from the end of the Second World War to the beginning of the ’60s. By means of the analysis of documents coming from institutional and private archives, we focus on three case studies (the failed adoption of a self-regulation code, the condemnation of Il miracolo by the American episcopate, the pre-production of the shockumentary Mondo cane). We then propose to consider preventive censorship not only as a repressive device, but also as a system for negotiating public relations with respect to issues that invest the current morals of an era.