passolini: roma la citta, la vita, la morte aritz galarraga
1- stazione termini
Pasolini reached Rome on 28th January, 1950, with his mother, having left his father back in Casarsa, Friuli. The young militant poet had been thrown out of public education and from the Communist Party because he was believed to have molested a teenager. He was absolved, but the damage was done. He had a new life in front of him, even if that only meant a new geographical location. Alberdania published the book he wrote in Friuli A Dream about
2- rebibbia
He lived in a poor suburb, Ponte Mammolo, in a roofless house next to Rebibbia prison. He lived like somebody condemned to death, in his own words. But it was there that he also got to know the things that were going to be his raw materials: workers, their way of speaking, their culture and violent lifestyle. That and love on the banks of the Tiber. He showed that in his ragazzi di vita (1955) novel.
3- via giacinto carini
Having improved his financial situation somewhat, he moved to the centre of town, to the same building where the Bertoluccis lived. He started writing film scripts for other people, taking part in intellectual life in Rome and making friends with artists: Bernardo, of course, Fellini and Alberto Moravia, a life-long friend. Piazza Navona, Piazza del Popolo, Campo de’Fiori are the cardinal points in that new life of his.
4- ina-casa tuscolano
And the writer started making films: Accatone (1961), Mamma Roma (1962), La ricotta (1963). Those are the three films in Pasolini’s Roman Trilogy. Mamma Roma has an illuminating message: the character played by Anna Magnani leaves her home district and goes to the newer, neater INA-Casa Tuscolano building. In the film, however, this process of gentrification
5- via eufrate
Passolini bought an apartment (“my production house”) in the production district which Mussolini had built. Rome was still the centre for him, but it was apparent that he was moving further and further away from it: he cannot stand the destructive consumer society and the loss of the workers’ innocent culture. Il Vangelo secondo Matteo (1964) he filmed in the south of Italy; Comizi d’amore (1965) throughout Italy; Edipo re (1967) in Marroco; The Canterbury Tales (1972) in England; Il fiore delle Mille e una notte (1974) in Egypt, Yemen, India, Iran, Eritrea, Afghanistan and Nepal.
6- ostia
He had two houses built, both quite close to Rome but not too close either. The second, close to the sea, he was not able to enjoy much: he went to live there in the summer of 1975. Petroleo was Pasolini’s last complete novel and Salò his last film. On 2nd November they found his body torn apart on the beach at Ostia. We know very little about what happened that night except that a great writer and filmmaker was killed.
Pasolini reached Rome on 28th January, 1950, with his mother, having left his father back in Casarsa, Friuli. The young militant poet had been thrown out of public education and from the Communist Party because he was believed to have molested a teenager. He was absolved, but the damage was done. He had a new life in front of him, even if that only meant a new geographical location. Alberdania published the book he wrote in Friuli A Dream about
2- rebibbia
He lived in a poor suburb, Ponte Mammolo, in a roofless house next to Rebibbia prison. He lived like somebody condemned to death, in his own words. But it was there that he also got to know the things that were going to be his raw materials: workers, their way of speaking, their culture and violent lifestyle. That and love on the banks of the Tiber. He showed that in his ragazzi di vita (1955) novel.
3- via giacinto carini
Having improved his financial situation somewhat, he moved to the centre of town, to the same building where the Bertoluccis lived. He started writing film scripts for other people, taking part in intellectual life in Rome and making friends with artists: Bernardo, of course, Fellini and Alberto Moravia, a life-long friend. Piazza Navona, Piazza del Popolo, Campo de’Fiori are the cardinal points in that new life of his.
4- ina-casa tuscolano
And the writer started making films: Accatone (1961), Mamma Roma (1962), La ricotta (1963). Those are the three films in Pasolini’s Roman Trilogy. Mamma Roma has an illuminating message: the character played by Anna Magnani leaves her home district and goes to the newer, neater INA-Casa Tuscolano building. In the film, however, this process of gentrification
5- via eufrate
Passolini bought an apartment (“my production house”) in the production district which Mussolini had built. Rome was still the centre for him, but it was apparent that he was moving further and further away from it: he cannot stand the destructive consumer society and the loss of the workers’ innocent culture. Il Vangelo secondo Matteo (1964) he filmed in the south of Italy; Comizi d’amore (1965) throughout Italy; Edipo re (1967) in Marroco; The Canterbury Tales (1972) in England; Il fiore delle Mille e una notte (1974) in Egypt, Yemen, India, Iran, Eritrea, Afghanistan and Nepal.
6- ostia
He had two houses built, both quite close to Rome but not too close either. The second, close to the sea, he was not able to enjoy much: he went to live there in the summer of 1975. Petroleo was Pasolini’s last complete novel and Salò his last film. On 2nd November they found his body torn apart on the beach at Ostia. We know very little about what happened that night except that a great writer and filmmaker was killed.
