The Specifics of Ancient Russia Image in Animation. Attempt to Translate Soviet Cartoons into Italian

The very essential ground to this thesis is the way Ancient Russia is represented in Soviet cartoons. The work has been realized by me as a foreigner keen on Soviet animation. The main purpose was to spread knowledge about these cartoons among all those Italians interested in Russian culture, but who barely know who "Crocodile Gena" is or what "Hedgehog in the fog" is about: this paper aims at getting them acquainted with the humanity and beauty expressed in Soviet animation. The resulting work provides notions about Sojuzmultfilm's history and the general plot of the cartoons, on the one hand, while on the other it tries to create something out of cartoons' contents and their cultural and historical relevance. The first step was to translate and create subtitles in italian. Secondly, exercises and didactic activities - created on the basis of principles for teaching foreign languages - have been conceived not only for the understanding of the cartoons but also to suggest a more entertaining way to acquire cultural and historical knowledge. To this end, provided literature was mainly based on online articles from contemporary cultural reviews, books, museums and Unesco's official websites and resources of many other types. The resulting paper aims at suggesting ways not only to get Italian students acquainted with Russian culture and its component, but also, and primarily, to instill in them the desire to discover Russian culture.