The Katakomben-Stichting (Catacombs Foundation) is a private institution established in 1913 by the wealthy Dutch textile entrepreneur Jan F.M. Diepen and his family on the site of a ‘facsimile’ of the most famous sections of the Roman catacombs (today Museum Romeinse Katakomben), constructed between 1909 and 1913 in an abandoned quarry in Valkenburg aan de Geul, the Netherlands. The Foundation owns a collection of early Christian artifacts, watercolours and cartoons aimed at the creation of replicas of the catacomb paintings, as well as an archive, all of which await proper study and dissemination. A careful survey of the archive has added a new and valuable piece to the history of research involving the Crypt of Saint Cecilia in the Catacomb of Saint Callixtus. Diepen, together with the Trappist monk Eugenius van Doorn, coordinated between 1912 and 1916 a pioneering stratigraphic analysis of the decorations of the so-called ‘palimpsest wall’ of the Crypt, after they discovered a previously unknown fragment of an early medieval wall painting containing the bust of a Christ hovering in the sky, from that moment known as Salvatore Olandese. The analysis was supported by meticulous documentation of the decorations, which remains largely unpublished within the Foundation’s archive. The reasons for not publishing this comprehensive study remain uncertain. Examining Diepen’s notebook and correspondence with Rome-based archaeologists and art historians reveals a ‘harsh’ picture of the so-called ‘Roman school’ of Christian Archaeology, marked by rivalries and hostilities and lacking scientific collaboration with foreign scholars. It was precisely within this environment that a certain obstructionism appears to have emerged against the Dutch amateur and his circle’s efforts to study and publish the Salvatore Olandese, contributing to the ‘cancellation’ of this fresco from collective memory to this day.

This study examines the overlooked protests at the 1968 Venice Biennale to reassess the role of the media in Italy’s sessantotto. While mainstream newspapers largely dismissed the student and cultural demonstrations, illustrated magazines and television news offered more varied and sometimes sympathetic coverage, reaching millions. First-hand accounts of police violence in the work of photojournalist Gianni Berengo Gardin and in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s evolving commentary for Tempo magazine show that protest could come from within the media itself. The analysis highlights the significance of television’s innovative current affairs programming, which, despite censorship, brought global and Italian unrest into homes. By exploring the media ecosystem beyond newspapers – magazines, photojournalism, and television – this research shows how these platforms played a crucial role in shaping public understanding of 1968’s cultural and political conflicts, offering a fresh interpretation of Italy’s ‘1968’ and the complex relationship between protest and the media.