Subject
A scene from “To Rome with Love”, 2012, written and directed by Woody Allen, with a cast including Roberto Benigni and Penélope Cruz, telling four different stories in the cinematic setting of the city of Rome. The episode catalogued here, set in the Villa dei Quintili on Via Appia Antica, features Jack, architecture student, tempted by love for Monica, his partner Sally’s best friend. John (Alec Baldwin), an experienced American architect, confronts the young man about the risks of temptations.
The sequence opens with the music of “Non dimenticar le mie parole”, a 1937 song by Trio Lescano and Emilio Livi. A car passes under the Acqua Clodio in the modern Parco degli Acquedotti, on the way to the site of the monumental Villa owned in the 2nd century AD by brothers Sextus Quintilius Condianus and Sextus Quintilius Valerius Maximus, situated at the 5th-6th miles of Via Appia Antica. The villa was taken under imperial domain in 182-183 AD, when Emperor Commodus, accusing them of plotting a conspiracy, had the brothers killed. The scene of Monica and Leonardo with camera takes place in the remains of the residential part of the villa; in the background is Monte Cavo (ancient Mons Albanus), a characteristic hill of the Castelli Romani. The dialogue with John is set within the structures of the thermal baths, characterised by the enormous calidarium (with a glimpse of its large windows, once closed by stained-glass windows) and the frigidarium (which still retains a precious polychrome marble floor).
Director
Woody Allen
Year
2012
