Subject
The excerpts catalogued are from the 1961 comedy “Sua eccellenza si fermò a mangiare” (His Excellency Stopped to Eat), the last film of Totò with director Mario Mattoli, later reissued in re-edited version under the title ‘”Dr. Tanzarella, Personal Physician of … the Founder of the Empire” (1967). In the 1930s, riding in a classic Lancia cabriolet, Ernesto (Ugo Tognazzi), Dr. Biagio Tanzarella (Totò), Silvia (Virna Lisi), Lauretta (Lauretta Masiero) and Countess Clara Bernabei (Lia Zoppelli) arrive at an elegant villa on Via Appia Antica.
The villa seen is in fact Casale di Santa Maria Nova, at the fifth mile of Via Appia Antica, purchased by the Italian state in 2006 from the couple Elena and Evan Ewan Kimble. The villa now pertains to the Appia Antica Archaeological Park, and can be visited together with the nearby Villa dei Quintili, as part of a single archaeological complex. The cinematic view allows some understanding of the status of the structure in the early 1960s, including the different building phases. Originally a Roman structure of the 2nd century AD, possibly a two-storey cistern, a defensive tower had been added in late antiquity, before conversion as a manor farmhouse by the Olivetan Monks. In the 20th century the building was again converted as a private residence, following divestment from the Church’s rich holdings in these localities, known as the Patrimonium Appiae. A parade of at the Italian Youth of the Littorio arrives at the Casale, featuring four young “Balilla” on drums, leading a corps of the Young Italian Girls, in amusing contrast to the two Carabinieri standing rigidly in formal uniform at the gates. The ground floor of the monumental complex, behind the glass doors seen in the clip, now hosts an interpretive display on the history of the place, while the staircase seen on the right leads to the upper floors, now also used for temporary exhibitions.
Director
Mario Mattoli
Year
1961
