Grand’Italia 3

These are portraits of six Italian women who, in the most diverse fields, have made Italy known in Europe and in the world. They put in contrast the risks of fatalism and depression, now rampant, with the reasons for the challenge, passion, vitality.
In other countries, when real talents are available, this heritage is valued to the highest degree. The same does not always happen in Italy.

The goal of this series, now in its third edition, is precisely to think of these great characters as possible models of life, to be looked upon with pride, admiration and hope, thus contradicting a national decline considered inevitable by too many.

Franco Marcoaldi, author of the program, does not present himself as a simple interviewer, but rather leads us to get to know their stories and passions, their talent and their idiosyncrasies, as well as the symbolic places of their lives.

The further element of specificity of this third series is that the protagonists are all female, in the belief that women’s talent is central in this historical moment. Let’s briefly recount them:

Speranza Scappucci

Forty-two-year-old orchestra director, at the peak of her career. She lives between Vienna and New York. Wel film her in her Roman family home, then in her rehearsals and during the premiere of Rossini’s Cinderella in Vienna, where she will conduct the prestigious Wiener orchestra. Her testimonials are first-rate: Maestro Zubin Metha, with whom Speranza worked for a long time at the Maggio Fiorentino, and the famous opera singer Placido Domingo.

Amalia Ercoli Finzi

The first female aerospace engineer in Italy, she led the famous “Rosetta” expedition to Mars for the study of comets. As a mother of five children, she has always combined scientific work at the highest levels with her family life and has always fought for gender equality. We film her in the Milanese home of one of her daughters (Elvina, who is also her testimonial), in her workplace at the Milan Polytechnic, and finally in the magical space of the Planetarium. The other testimonial is the famous astronaut Paolo Nespoli.

Alice Rohrwacher

Film director and winner at Cannes with the film “The wonders”. Very original interpreter of our time, in her works she shows a peasant world in its harsh everyday life. We find her in her country house near Lake Bolsena, engaged in agricultural life, alongside improvisational poets who will be the protagonists of her next film. We then follow her to Reggio Emilia, in the rehearsals of the Boheme, of which she will be the director. The protagonist of the film “The Wonders”, Monica Bellucci, will be her testimonial.

Nives Meroi

The greatest Italian female climber. We follow her during her trial climbs in her Friulian lands, together with her husband (one of her testimonials), her life partner and all the adventures on the highest peaks in the world. Her portrait is accompanied by unpublished images of her taken from her most important climbs and the precious testimony of the writer Erri De Luca, her friend and author of a book dedicated to her.

Gabriella Pescucci

Oscar winner for costumes in the film “The Age of Innocence” by Martin Scorsese. She has worked with the greatest directors in the world (Sergio Leone, Federico Fellini, Ettore Scola, Marco Bellocchio, Jean-Jaques Annaud, Terry Gilliam etc.).
The portrait of her takes place between her Roman house, the Tirelli tailor’s shop and the extraordinary “archive” of the cinematographic costumes of Formello. At her side is her friend and teacher Piero Tosi and Paolo Virzì.

Elena Ferrante

The most important publishing case of the last decade. Nothing is known about the true identity of this writer, now famous all over the world. Thi documentary, obviously anomalous compared to the rest of the series, tries to reconstruct – in her absence – the physiognomy of the author. We are accompanied on this journey by the editors Sandro and Sandra Ferri, the actress Anna Bonaiuto, interpreter of the film “L’amore molesto” and now the “official” reader of Ferrante’s work (audio books, shows, etc.), and with the testimony of Maurizio De Giovanni.