Between August and September 1957, Mario Monicelli set most of the exterior scenes of Il medico e lo stregone in four locations in Tuscia: San Martino al Cimino, Valentano (the sequences of city life were filmed on the streets of these two towns), Grotte Santo Stefano (the entire sequence of the meeting between Marisa Merlini and her previous fiancée Alberto Sordi at the train station) and Civita di Bagnoregio (framed in the initial sequence of the film).
The Tuscan director, who had previously filmed some sequences of Totò e Carolina (1954) in Viterbo’s old hospital, remembered the reason why he chose that location: «Il medico e lo stregone was shot in San Martino al Cimino because I knew the village well, my parents used to take me there on holiday when I was a child, in the 1920s». In the following decade, Monicelli returned to Tuscia to direct L'armata Brancaleone (1966), largely shot (60%, as calculated by the director himself) in villages, castles, fortresses and countryside in the area. Among the most emblematic locations, Vitorchiano (the town affected by plague), Nepi (the aqueduct, the Rocca dei Borgia and the Farnesian Bastions), Tuscania (panoramic sequences of the town and the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica), Viterbo (Palazzo Chigi and Strada Signorino), the Tower of Chia and the two lakes (Vico and Bolsena).
Also the sequel Brancaleone alle crociate (1970) was filmed locally, in Nepi and by Lake Vico. Between the two movies about Brancaleone, Monicelli shot some sequences of the satirical comedy Toh è morta la nonna! (1969) in the historic center of Tuscania. He then filmed in and around Tarquinia some important scenes of Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno (1984) and Speriamo che sia femmina (1986).
Il marchese del Grillo (1981), one of Monicelli's most famous comedies, includes several scenes set in Tuscia (Soriano nel Cimino’s beech forest, Lake Vico and Tarquinia).
Photo: Vittorio Gassman and Fulvia Franco on the set of L’Armata Brancaleone (1966).
©Archivio Fotografico - Cineteca Nazionale Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia
Written by Franco Grattarola
