Ennio Flaiano (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ennio_Flaiano -
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0280919/) was from my hometown Pescara and was
a great writer and a fantastic screenwriter. He is one of the minds behind
many Federico Fellini movies: think about La Dolce Vita, I Vitelloni, La
Strada, The White Sheik and other titles.
One of those movies (I Vitelloni,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_vitelloni)was even based on the pescarese
youth - even if Flaiano moved to Rome - and later Fellini modified the
script so that it became based in his own hometown Rimini (both are on the
Adriatic Sea) and to include Moraldo (i.e. himself) in the movie.
Yesterday, TG3 (local news programme on tv) reported that Flaiano's house,
the house where he was born, is now on eBay for 900.000 Euros (these days
I assume more than 1,3 million $).
Click here for the ad including several pics:
http://cgi.ebay.it/Prestigiosa-dimora-storica-a-Pescara_W0QQitemZ300195492652QQihZ020QQcategoryZ149697QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
...I have blogged about it on an Italian site I write for... It would be
better if the lacal authorities or some other public entity bought it and
it is a bit sad to see a piece of our (already severely damaged)
collective historical memory go away.
Flaiano's house is very close to the original house of poet Gabriele
D'Annunzio, both are in a very small area which is the only "ancient"
place we have here (Pescara was small and was formed in 1927 incorporating
another small town, Castellammare Adriatico... today population is about
120000; most of the town is recent, not just because the two original
villages were small, but mostly because 70% of what existed in the early
part of last century was destroyed by US bombings in 1943 :( ...we
happened to supposedly be on some strategic position, on the adriatic
coast, with a railroad to Milan and one to Rome).
I am tempted to launch some initiative to collect funds, but the place and
donate it to the community but I am afraid that would be a task too
huge... :/
later
DjB
