Massimo Troisi would be 70 years old the beginnings in

Massimo Troisi would be 70 years old: the beginnings in the parish theater, the censorship in Sanremo, the friendship with the…

A of the Annunciation, Annunciation

Massimo Troisi was born on February 19, 1953 in San Giorgio a Cremano. Maskless Pulcinella, “King of the Asynchronous” (as his lifelong friend Lello Arena defined him), would have been celebrating his 70th birthday today if his “crazy” heart hadn’t taken him from us on June 4, 1994. We want to remember him with a collection of anecdotes and curiosities between life and career, starting with one of the most famous sketches of Smorfia (the comedy trio that included the actor-director with whom he had success), “Nativity” » : Troisi played the humble wife of a fisherman who was mistaken for the Virgin Mary by Archangel Gabriel/Lello Arena and by a Cherubino/Enzo Decaro. „He announced it! He announced! You Marì, Marì, you are Salvatore’s son, Gabriele brought you the good news». The character of Archangel Gabriel – with his famous exclamation – was inspired by the priest who taught religion to Troisi in elementary school. Today “The Nativity” is a comedy classic, but back then the sketch was accused of disregarding the state religion.

B from Benigni (Roberto)

«Massimo Troisi was a handsome actor, a handsome director and also a handsome man. He was a loss, a void that cannot be filled. With him there was a special friendship and love that rarely occurs. When we were together we had so much fun, we just looked at each other and laughed.” This is how Roberto Benigni remembered his great friend Massimo Troisi a few years ago, with whom he wrote, directed and performed the masterpiece “We just have to cry” in 1984. When Troisi died, Benigni wrote a moving poem dedicated to him (“Your verb has worked more wonders than that of beloved San Gennaro”, cit.). And in “La vita è bella” (1997) he pays homage to him with a few quotes: Benigni, who tries telepathically to get the teacher to turn in the theater, is an allusion to Troisi, who tries to move a vase in with the power of his mind “Tag des Groundhog Day in Three (1981) and the scene where Benigni runs around the block to “accidentally” meet Nicoletta Braschi is the same stunt Troisi uses to meet Fiorenza Marchegiani in Groundhog Day in Three .

C by Clarissa Burt (and Nathalie Caldonazzo)

Speaking of Massimo Troisi’s private life, in the final years of his life, the actor first became romantically involved with Clarissa Burt (“We broke up because when you’re together, it’s two, not two hundred. That’s why we broke up,” she told Corriere a few months ago) then to Nathalie Caldonazzo.

D by Daniele (Pino)

A great friendship connected him with Pino Daniele Troisi, which culminated in a great artistic partnership: The singer-songwriter actually took care of the soundtracks of his films “Day of the Groundhog from Three”, “The Ways of the Lord Are Ended” and “I Thought ‘It would be love instead it was a buggy.’ In 2008, the singer-songwriter dedicated his hit box “Ricomincio da 30” to him (“Dear Massimo, this project is dedicated to you. Nu Bacio! Pino”, says the back of the booklet accompanying the record).

And by Ettore Scola

“We made three films with Massimo to enjoy the pleasure of being together.” Ettore Scola directed Troisi in three films: Splendor (1989), Che ora è (1989) and The Voyage of Captain Fracassa (1990). The Neapolitan actor and Marcello Mastroianni won the Coppa Volpi ex aequo for best male performance at the Venice Film Festival for “Che ora è”.

F of the family

For his films and sketches, Troisi – he said – was often inspired by his family. For example, the character of hit comedian Alfredo (played by Franco Acampora) in Sorry for the Delay is autobiographical, while in Groundhog Day his sister’s wedding scene, played by Cloris Brosca, is inspired by the actor’s sister’s wedding.

G the garage

At just 15 years old, while attending the Technical Institute for Surveyors, Troisi made his debut in the parish theater of the Church of Sant’Anna, along with some childhood friends (including Lello Arena). In these years Troisi began to sign one-act plays and theatrical performances that he staged with the company Rh-Negativo (to which Enzo Decaro joined) in a new space: a garage in Via San Giorgio Vecchio 31, where the Centro Space is located Theatre.

H from Houston

Due to his heart problems, Troisi underwent his first surgery in Houston, USA, in 1976 (a collection was organized to pay for the trip). He returned to Texas for an investigation in 1993: “We were supposed to stay a week, we stayed a month and a half – recalled Nathalie Caldonazzo, interviewed by Corriere –. I remember it like in a movie: we were in the waiting room, the doctor comes in, takes pen and paper and draws his heart. “It’s from a seventy-year-old. We have to operate, but you decide.” We looked at each other, we thought it was the only thing to do, instead it was a tragedy”. Troisi decided not to undergo a transplant in order to finish “Il postino” (the film he was working on) with his heart.

I the voyage of Captain Fracassa

Massimo Troisi plays Pulcinella in The Voyage of Captain Fracassa, a film adaptation of Théophile Gautier’s novel Il Capitan Fracassa. In 1989, while filming, he met Jennifer Beals (the Alex from “Flashdance”), who was also in Cinecittà filming the film “Doctor M.” by Claude Chabrol. ‘He was a really magical person and we became very good friends – she said in an interview -. I’ve never met anyone so able to play with their way of speaking. We spent many days and nights together talking about our lives, going to the cinema, watching films, walking the streets of Rome at night».

someone loves me over there

On February 23, 2023, the documentary film by Mario Martone, a homage to Massimo Troisi, “Someone over there loves me”, which was shown at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival in the Berlinale Special section, will be released in cinemas. «Massimo has always remained alive in the collective imagination because he was a great soul and a great artist. We make this film to hear it again, to see it again, to be there». Martone’s goal is to highlight Troisi as a great director of our cinema even before that as a great comedian and to sketch his artistic parable from beginning to end.

M from Maradona

A big Napoli Troisi fan was a close friend of Diego Armando Maradona. They played together during a charity match right at the San Paolo Stadium (which today bears the name of the Argentine champions).

N of non-stop

Non Stop (1977) was the first program in which La Smorfia took part, the trio composed of Massimo Troisi, Lello Arena and Enzo Decaro (previously called I Saraceni). The name La Smorfia was Massimo’s idea: when Pina Cipriani, director of the San Carluccio Theater in Naples, asked the three: “What’s your name?” Troisi replied with a grimace. “Smorfia” is also linked to the Neapolitan tradition of interpreting dreams for the lottery game.

Or say “O ssaje comme fa ‘o core”.

This poem by Troisi, set to music by his friend Pino Daniele (and included on the 1991 album «Sotto ‘o sole»), refers to love but also to the heart diseases shared by Troisi and Daniele.

P of Pavignano (Anna)

Meeting Massimo Troisi in the late 1970s – on the set of Non Stop – literally changed Anna Pavignano’s life. “He recorded this TV show,” explained the Piedmontese screenwriter and author in 2008, “it was the time of Smorfia with De Caro and Arena. I worked in the same program as an extra. When I was a student, I was still at university. I was enrolled in medicine, which I then left for psychology». Later, the producer Mario Berardi asked Troisi to make a film: «He gave Massimo carte blanche with the words: «Write what you want». He involved me because he had read the things I had written, so we kind of merged into the story of what our life and mentality was at that time, our experiences in the late 70’s. The text was written in a house on Lake Nemi where I, Massimo, Lello Arena and Gaetano Daniele, a historical friend of Massimo who later became co-producer, lived”. Anna lived a long love story with Troisi that lasted ten years, but the two continued to work together even after the separation: Pavignano wrote the screenplays for “Neu bei Drei” (1981), “Morto Troisi, viva Troisi!” (1982), “Sorry I’m Late” (1983), “The Ways of the Lord Are Over” (1987), “I Thought It Was Love… Instead It Was A Pram” and “The Postman” (1994).

Q of When

Pino Daniele wrote “When” for the soundtrack of “I think it was love… but it was a gig” (1991). The film, visible on the web, of the singer-songwriter playing the first draft of the song to his friend Troisi, first with headphones (“It’s taste of cinema”) and then live (he was an actor and director to suggest some changes to the lyrics).

R from Groundhog Day three

Great success with audiences and critics for “Ricomincio da tre” (1981), Troisi’s first cinema experience (both as an actor and as a director): it achieved record revenues and won numerous awards, including two David di Donatello and four Silver Ribbons. Many scenes have entered the collective memory, such as the one in which Gaetano/Troisi tries to ‘save’ the clumsy Robertino (played by Renato Scarpa) from his mother: ‘What complexes? They have a whole orchestra at their head.’

S of San Remo

A month before his film debut, Troisi was invited to the Sanremo Festival as a comic guest by Gianni Ravera. Fearing a new Benigni case (a year earlier, the Tuscan comedian had teased the Church by calling John Paul II “Wojtylaccio”), the organizers wanted to read out the texts prepared by the actor, who also wanted to improvise. Rai suggested some cuts to Troisi – there were references to religion, politics and the earthquake in Irpinia in the texts – in order to keep improvisation to a minimum and make only one intervention (and not three). After a famous interview in which he mocked what had happened (“I’m not sure whether to bring a poem by Pascoli or Carducci”), Troisi canceled his participation half an hour before the live broadcast.

T of Trastevere

In 1997 the cinema in the former GIL building (designed by Luigi Moretti in 1933, inaugurated in 1937 and previously dedicated to Induno) in the Trastevere district of Rome was dedicated to Massimo Troisi.

U of the last movie

Massimo Troisi died at the age of 41 on June 4, 1994, one day after the final clapper board of his latest film, The Postman. The idea for the film adaptation of Antonio Skármeta’s novel “The Postman from Neruda” (1986) came to the actor and director, who, after reading the book, was keen to buy the rights.

V of Verdone (Carlo)

Carlo Verdone was also a great friend of Massimo Troisi: both made their first steps on television in the program Non Stop. «We met on the flight to Catania, I wanted to present “Bianco Rosso & Verdone” and he was presenting his first film “Ricomincio da Tre”», said Verdone a few years ago, the only one who managed to get Troisi into the cinema to bring: “Lazy, ingenious, slow, creative and funny like few others Massimo rarely left the house. I was the only one who managed to take him to the cinema – wrote Verdone on Facebook in 2020 –. But it was recommended to always go to the first show, he didn’t want to be besieged by people. But that day the hall was already full at 3:30 p.m. I can’t remember which film it was, we must have been at the Gioiello cinema, a small room on Via Nomentana. A paparazzi followed us and took this photo (below, editor’s note). And this is what a photographer friend of mine who was found in his archive is giving me now».

Z from Uncle Vincenzo

In Sorry for the delay (1983), Patrizia (played by Lina Polito) scolds her daughter – who is throwing a tantrum – threatening “Look, if you don’t stop, I’m going to make Uncle Vincenzo eat you!”. The answer of the person directly affected, played by Troisi, was unforgettable: “Why do you have to say something to a Guagliona? A s’adda put fear only ‘and me? Are there a lot of people here and I eat it right for me ‘a guagliona? Oh no, because then he remembers this thing, he says: “Uncle Vincenzo, I hate him because he used to bite me when I was a kid, he ate me…”. But why? There are so many people, let Alfredo eat them».