Bologna, Danilo Donati's Fellini-esque set designs on display at the Cirulli Foundation

Entitled Federico Fellini Behind the Scenes, the new project of the Massimo and Sonia Cirulli Foundation of San Lazzaro di Savena (Bologna) is a novelty that the Bologna-based foundation offers to the public on the centenary of the birth of Federico Fellini (Rimini, 1920 - Rome, 1993). It is a look at the stage works of Danilo Donati (Luzzara, 1926 - Rome, 2001), a set and costume designer of international renown and the “mind” behind some of the most extraordinary film sequences in Fellini’s masterpieces, from the appearance of the ocean liner Rex in Amarcord to the grotesque masks of Satyricon: Donati, with his set designs, was indeed able to visit the director’s dreamlike visions through meticulous, more intimate but no less visionary work.

Thus, Donati’s tempera and chalk on cardboard panels, capable of evoking the physical and character traits of the actors, the variously domestic, foreign or surreal atmospheres of the settings, go on display at the Cirulli Foundation. The exhibition is divided into an itinerary that examines three important films(Amarcord, Satyricon and Casanova) with about ten original studies by Danilo Donati, selected from a corpus of more than one hundred works to offer visitors a fresco of the extraordinary relationship between visual arts, film art and artistic craftsmanship that underlie the fortunes of Italian cinema.

Danilo Donati, originally from Luzzara, studied at the Porta Romana School of Art in Florence, becoming a student of the great painter Ottone Rosai. After the war he began working for the cinema, first collaborating with Luchino Visconti and then forming partnerships with Mario Monicelli and especially Pier Paolo Pasolini. Meanwhile he collaborated with Franco Zeffirelli, winning his first Oscar in 1969 for the costumes of Romeo and Juliet. His second Oscar came in 1977, just for Fellini’s Casanova. His latest work is Roberto Benigni’s Pinocchio, for which he saw two David di Donatello awards (for sets and costumes).

The exhibition will begin on Saturday, Sept. 19, and can be visited on Sept. 19 and 20, Oct. 3, 4, 24, 25 and 31, Nov. 1, 28 and 29, and Dec. 12 and 13. Visiting arrangements are as follows: Saturday opening from 2 to 7 p.m., Sunday opening with thematic guided tour from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Reservations required at info@fondazionecirulli.org. For more information visit the Cirulli Foundation website.

Bologna, Danilo Donati's Fellini-esque set designs on display at the Cirulli Foundation

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