TRAVEL – Mother City Time

Rimini

La Dolce Vita City

“Nothing is known, everything is imagined”

– Federico Fellini (The Voice of the Moon)

We just got back from Rimini, on the Adriatric coast, in the northern Italian region of Emilia Romagna. The province borders the independent Republic of San Marino, another pending trip.

We travelled to retrace the history of film maker Federico Fellini, in his hometown, the city that gave birth to him and his cinematic imagination.

This story starts at a lecture hall in Swansea, South Wales, about 30 years ago. We were studying Italian cinema as part of my degree and I was introduced to the cinematic world of Federico Fellini. I can remember being blown away in the first few minutes of watching 8 1/2 , at the composition in Fellini’s film frame.

A week or two later we watched ‘La Dolce Vita‘ in class. We continued to consider the creativity of Fellini, and his unique approach to film making. He was a maestro. An auteur. I sat with a friend and we marvelled at the infamous Trevi Fountain scene. “We should go there” we whispered to each other.

That iconic scene has inspired two trips since then.

In 1994 Federico Fellini died. There were many tributes to the genius film maker. That summer I travelled in Italy with the same friend from university. We took a train from Tuscany to Rome, with one main objective in mind; to recreate the Trevi Fountain scene. My friend was working at the BBC in Cardiff at the time. She had borrowed a compact video camera. We were set.

On our arrival in Rome, we wondered towards the Trevi district and found a B&B with a roof terrace. There we nursed Negronis and hatched our plan; to head out after midnight, and film each other frolicking in the fountain. We gazed at the stunning statues and fountains that night. But the police presence put the kibosh on any filming that we had hoped to do.

Fast forward to now, and an opportunity to attend a Film Masterclass, with the italian composer Andrea Guerra and the musician Paolo Fresu at the festival I luoghi dell’Anima. We travelled to Rimini and made our way to a hotel in the Centro Storico, far from the popular beach resorts. Our hotel was a few minutes walk to both the Fulgor Cinema and the Fellini Museum.

I listened hard to all that was being said at the masterclass. I didn’t always understand every word of Italian. But I was delighted to be able to attend a film festival again in person, after so many virtual events in the last two years. And of course I thought of Fellini. It was in the impressive Fulgor Cinema, where it all started for him, his young eyes influenced by the big screen.

The Fellini Museum is thoughtfully curated to celebrate his dreams, his vision and his brilliance. It’s the world’s largest museum project dedicated to the film maker. In the first building there are posters, archives, artefacts and a few projections. We spent a lot of time in each space. And in the afternoon sun we walked over to the Castel Sismondo, an impactful setting, housing several film installations.

A whole room was dedicated to ‘La Dolce Vita’s’ Trevi Fountain scene. I watched it countless times. Can you ever tire of it? A gigantic sculpture of Anita Ekberg reclines along the length of the room. And the film clip is projected on a big screen at the end.

On our last night in Rimini we walked to the seafront, along the Spiaggia bagno delle Rose at sunset. We took apertivo at the glorious Grand Hotel, in Federico’s words “the fairytale of richness, luxury and Oriental splendour”. It’s another place in Rimini steeped in the history of Fellini. The hotel is now a national monument.

This small town in Emilia Romagna gave the world a giant in the history of film. Time in Fellini’s hometown, watching his film work and hearing recordings of his voice was very special. And it was a powerful reminder of the value of creativity, the importance of authenticity and that it’s very O.K to be eccentric.

“Everything is imagined”.