The essay proposes to study three key moments of the history of cinema from the technological perspective, using as “reagent” the Pio Pion Workshop in Milan that was active from the early twentieth century onward in the production of cinema projectors. The analysis focuses firstly on the manner in which technology served or simply encountered the programmes of the Mussolini regime, or, more generally, how cinematographic technology interacted with the socio-cultural and political milieu, both influencing and undergoing the influence of the surrounding context. Secondly, attention centres on the advent of the sound track and way Pion responded to this new element: it is shown that in relation both to the ‘body’ of the technology as well as its functions, the approach adopted by Pion reflected the overall evolutionary trend chacterising the history of cinema and consumption. Finally, the case of teleprojection, developed by Pion in the mid-1959s to allow the projection of television programmes at the cinema, embodies an attempt at technological integration which testifies to a special attitude towards the new medium: rather than magnifying the differences compared to cinema, emphasis was placed on heightening the similarities.