In 1904, Bologna still had a river with banks, and in Riva di Reno women used to wash their laundry. Great changes were underway. The illumination of Piazza Maggiore ushered in the age of electricity. No wonder Guglielmo Cattaneo named the small cinema he opened in November 1904 in Via Rizzoli 29, the Sala Marconi. Closed down only after a few months, it is not to be confused with Palazzo Marconi in Via San Vitale 28, where in late 1904 a large audience enjoyed an evening of scientific experiments, microscopic slides and comic “animated projections”, eg. films.
But more important for the citizens of Bologna in the early years of the last century were the travelling showmen Leilich, Kullman and Böcher from Germany and Switzerland who every year took their lavishly decorated fairground tents south to spend the cold season in Italy. In the winter of 1903-1904, Böcher remained for four months on Piazza VIII agosto, and in the autumn of 1904, he organised continuous screenings in the atrium of the Arena del Sole. Our programme combines Cambrioleurs moderns and Un coup d’œil par étage – presented in 1904 by Böcher – with Excursion en Italie and Le Voyage à travers l’impossible, 1904 films screened in the Teatro del Corso in 1905. Danses plastiques by Gaston Velle has been smuggled in from a programme screened in Fano, while Mondaine au bain replaces a similar (untraced) scène grivoise. Four more films we know for certain were seen in Bologna at the time are screened during Il Cinema Ritrovato 2024: Dramma nell’aria (Un drame dans les airs, Gaston Velle), Metamorfosi di una farfalla (La Métamorphose du papillon, Gaston Velle), Battaglia navale russo-giapponese (Évènements Russo-Japonais. Combat naval, Lucien Nonguet) and La grande caccia al cervo (Hunting the Red Deer, H.M. Lomas, Charles Urban).

Mariann Lewinsky