Did you knwo that...

The passion for the Italian movies was born at the time of the Lumière brothers. First they were the documentaries (the first one was ordered by the inventors of the big screen) then they became movies. The Italian movie industry was born at the end of the 19th century and the first “feature film” that lasted 10 minutes was “The capture of Rome” (1905), directed by Filoteo Albertini. In 1912 the Italian movie industry had already released more than 1.100 movies shot in Turin, Rome and Milan.

Fantozzi changed the way of speaking Italian. Paolo Villaggio, through his most iconic character Fantozzi shaped our language forever. The character was born on the pages of the magazine Europeo in the column “Fantozzi’s Sunday” then it became a series of books then a funny series of movies that left the expression “Fantozziano” in our language, it was even entered into the dictionaries. There’s more than this. Pasolini praised Villaggio for this new expression and the way it changed our language starting with the use of the adjective “pazzesco”... (crazy). Who hasn’t experienced such an event in the style of Filini?

The adventures of “Attila flagello di Dio “ (Attila, the scourge of God) were not shot in Segrate. Although in the movie the cheerful company of “sbabbari” comes from Segrate (a district of Milan), the locations of the movie are all in Lazio. Starting with the castle of Saturnia in Vulci (used by Monicelli too in “L’Armata Brancaleone”) then there’s the Saracen tower in Ladispoli and the bridge of devil in Tuscia (it was used in the “Brancaleone’s Army” as well), not to mention the unforgettable rice-field where the Barbarian women used to harvest the rice near Caldara di Manziana (Rome).

Sophia Loren was frightened by Jayne Mansfield’s nipples. There’s a picture that shows the beautiful woman from Ciociaria (an area of Lazio) before the “discreet” décolleté of the American diva. This picture was described as he “perfect image of envy” but it’s not like that. Sophia Loren stated on an interview «I’m staring at her nipples since I’m afraid they will burst and will fall into my plate. You can see the fear on my face». The picture recalls a Paramount event in 1957.

Keep talking about Fantozzi, did you know that the fearsome movie “The Kotiomkin battleship” doesn’t exist? The colossal that haunts the employees of the “mega-company“ in the second movie based on the life of this funny accountant is related to a movie that really existed but the production never allowed to use the materials or the original name that was “The Potëmkin battleship” (by Sergej Michajlovič Ėjzenštejn, 1925). The production of Fantozzi therefore had to shoot all the scenes of the “fake-colossal” from scratch... Originating - according to Fantozzi himself - to the famous – allow me! - “cagata pazzesca” (crazy shit).

Benigni’s dream was becoming the Pope. And the pope called him. After the first episode of “The ten commandments” by Roberto Benigni Pope Francis called him privately. The comic actor was sleeping and they asked the Pope to call again later and the Pope called again. While the actor was talking to the Pope he felt so happy that he disclosed to him that he wanted to be the Pope when he was a child but since everyone used to laugh when he said that he decided to become a comic actor. He replied to the Pope’s question “do you know the good you’re doing?”, Benigni replied «Me? You do good...!».