Subject
The excerpts catalogued are from “Roma”, directed by Federico Fellini, 1972. The film is structured as a fantastical documentary recounting the Rome of the Fascist 1930s and of the 1970s in blocks of autonomous sequences, proceeding from subject to subject without transition, in which Fellini’s own autobiographical experiences transfigure reality. The film creates a visionary and lively portrait of a Rome, through the memories of a provincial youth who arrives in the city shortly before the World War II: a vision of the city that, through Fellini’s gaze, transports us to newly imagined places.
In this Rome, the Appia Antica is certainly not missing, as an integral element of the city. The excerpts open with a night shot of the so-called Arch of Drusus, in the foreground, and a striking Porta San Sebastiano, the ancient Appian gate of the city wall built under Emperor Aurelian beginning in 271 AD. In the following sequence, the camera brings into view the Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella, symbol of the Appia Antica. This monumental tomb was built in the last decades of the 1st century BC to honour a rich and influential Roman noblewoman, related by birth and marriage to two of the most prominent families of republican Rome: Metelli and Crassi. Quintus Caecilius Metellus, Cecilia’s father, a consul, received the cognomen Creticus for having conquered the island of Crete. Cecilia’s husband was probably Marcus Licinius Crassus, along with Caesar and Pompey a part of the First Triumvirate, established in 59 BC. The excerpt closes with the kind of scene readily visible along the Appia Antica until the time of the restoration carried out by state institutions in the latter years of the 20th century.
Director
Federico Fellini
Year
1972
