by the culture department
Andrea Balestri played Pinocchio as a child: «She was late and I refused to take a picture of us together, an argument immediately broke out. I missed my mother”
Gina Lollobrigida, who died yesterday in Rome at the age of 95, “the most beautiful woman in the world” as the title of one of her most famous films says, has crossed paths with Tuscany many times in her glittering career.
One of the artistic attempts that she remembers particularly in Tuscany was in 1972, when Luigi Comencini offered her the role of the blue-haired fairy in The Adventures of Pinocchio, the television mini-series based on the very Tuscan Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. In this case, too, the foresight of the diva is to be appreciated, for her it is her first appearance on television. Today it is impossible even to think about this script without remembering the fairy with whom Pinocchio (then very young Pisan actor Andrea Balestri, chosen by Comencini) develops an almost maternal love.
In reality, the relationship between the big diva and the rookie boy on the set wasn’t the best. Some time ago, Balestri told Il Giornale about the whims and jealousies that existed between the two: «One day we had to do a photo shoot. I was at the agreed place at 8am, it was cold and I was wearing my ball gown. I took pictures with everyone, but Lollobrigida was two hours late. An argument immediately broke out between her and me because I refused to take a picture with her. When he arrived, I yelled, “And now I’m not going to do the photoshoot with you anymore!”.
She reacted badly and got angry so I threw a rock at her but didn’t catch her…at this point she said a bad word in Roman dialect to which I replied with a bad word in Pisan dialect. He almost hit me!”
It is said that in the scene where Pinocchio stands sadly in front of the fairy’s tombstone, Balestri was unable to cry and that his father had to intervene and hit him to make him shed a few tears. Balestri remembers anyway these times as “wonderful. Even if melancholy sometimes appeared in the evenings. I missed my mother.”
Two years ago, Balestri wrote a post on Facebook: «It’s been a long time since Pinocchio, as Comencini imagined it, was broadcast, I too have gone a bit off track, in my own way and I can see it in the smiles and in the Reading the eyes of the people I meet on the street».
The newsletter
If you want to keep up to date with the latest news from Florence, subscribe to the Corriere Fiorentino newsletter for free. It arrives straight to your inbox at 12pm every day. Just click here
Jan 17, 2023 (Edit Jan 17, 2023 | 4:23pm)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED