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- Title
Vittorio De Sica e La porta del cielo. Un pellegrinaggio a Loreto ricostruito nella basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura nel clima dell'occupazione di Roma del 1944.
- Authors
Bonaccorso, Giuseppe
- Abstract
Following the custom of the "white trains" that led the sick towards the main Marian sanctuaries such as Lourdes and Loreto, in 1943 the Vatican had commissioned Vittorio De Sica to direct a film dealing with pilgrims' journeys to the Lauretan basilica. The film, entitled La porta del cielo (The Gate of Heaven), due to the war events had to be changed, especially in regards to the scenes to be shot in Loreto, so the Santa Casa was reproduced within the extra-territorial perimeter of San Paolo fuori le Mura. Filming, which began on March 1st 1944, was thus carried out entirely in Rome and ends shortly after the entry of American troops into the city on June 4th. Here De Sica anticipates the themes of neorealism, developed after the war with Cesare Zavattini, entering the daily problems of the sick (and of their companions) travelling towards the sanctuary. The production includes over four hundred people in the registers of extras, including Jews, political dissidents, draft dodgers, who thus managed to avoid round-ups and, after the arrival of the Americans, return to embrace the city again.
- Subjects
VATICAN City; PILGRIMS &; pilgrimages; JEWS; DISSENTERS; HEAVEN; SICK people
- Publication
Il Capitale Culturale: Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage, 2020, Issue 22, p315
- ISSN
2039-2362
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.13138/2039-2362/2329