Conclusion: The Smile of Bergman, the Body of Rita and the Face of Mona Lisa

Abstract

The seismic changes to Italy’s economy and society during the 1950s and 1960s created demand for popular versions of high culture. Education and knowledge were represented as a key dimension of a modern, scientific and prosperous Italy and key to success for young people. Not all attempts by publishers, advertisers and the Italian government to ‘civilise’ Italians found success. Yet, as the case studies of this book demonstrate, the presence of high culture was not solely a top-down process. Italians enjoyed and found meaning in their chosen forms of high culture, as magazines and television carried the adaptations of Italy’s humanist traditions and the Western Cultural Canon into the industrially produced mass culture and modern life.