<i>«Infamie e splendori: questo è il tempo in cui abbiamo avuto la ventura di vivere». Il Rinascimento di Florestano Vancini in </i>E ridendo l’uccise (2005)

Abstract

The main inspiration that led Florestano Vancini’s film career was Italian history. Although his attention was mostly drawn to major events from the 20th century – as in the highly praised La lunga notte del ’43 (1960) –, the Ferrarese director showed a considerable interest for the Renaissance era. The aim of this essay is to investigate the relationship that Vancini had with the “Umanesimo” in Ferrara. The first part of the present contribution analyses a short film from 1949, Amanti senza fortuna, staging the tragic events that involved Parisina Malatesta and her step-son Ugo d’Este. After that, other Vancini’s works are taken into consideration, such as the now lost La città di Messer Ludovico (1951), focusing on the great Renaissance poet Ludovico Ariosto; Ferrara (1995), a short TV movie showing the beautiful architecture of the town; and Lucrezia Borgia. Una intervista impossibile di Maria Bellonci (2002), a medium-length film dedicated to the tormented wife of Alfonso I d’Este. The final part of the essay analyses E ridendo l’uccise (2005), the last feature film directed by Vancini. Set at the time of the feud among the four Este brothers, the movie sheds light on a bloody page of the history of Ferrara viewed from the perspective of a jester, a character with a complex role in the social context of the Estense court.