And it was to Casarola that Attilio was evacuated during the height of the war, in 1943, for a brief period with his family: his wife Ninetta Giovanardi and their two sons, Bernardo and Giuseppe.
But the tragic reality of the conflict reached even that remote spot in the Parma Apennines. Bertolucci had to witness a ferocious round-up by the Nazi-Fascists: he would describe it in moving terms in perhaps his most accomplished work, the novel in verse La camera da letto.
At the beginning of the 1950s, the Bertoluccis’ life moved to Rome. Bernardo and Giuseppe would grow up in the capital. Both soon devoted themselves to cinema: Bernardo first as an assistant to Pier Paolo Pasolini, then as the author of small gems such as La commare secca and Prima della rivoluzione, and finally as an acclaimed international filmmaker, winning an Oscar for The Last Emperor.
Giuseppe would alternate his work as a director with that of a producer: among other things, it was he who discovered the singular cinematic talent of a young Roberto Benigni.
During the Bertoluccis’ Roman years, Casarola became the destination for summer holidays. It was among the woods and houses of the Apennines that the young Bernardo set his first short film, a 16 mm production with his brother Giuseppe and their cousins Marta and Galeazzina as the performers.
His father Attilio would dedicate a poem to that youthful effort, titled, like the film, La teleferica:
[…] The last shot is from above
of a branch of Turkey oak, the camera’s eye
restlessly seeks your restless eyes,
a defeated guide,
while already the little girls are growing distracted,
the eldest of the sisters weaves
a hat of leaves over the hair
of the youngest, the cameraman-poet
falls in love with her too, thinks of the effect
he will draw from it when, withered,
the leaves end up on the rosy
dust of the cold twilight
on the way back, forgotten
the early grief, the disappointed pupil,
the human theme of the little tale
(Attilio Bertolucci, La teleferica, Viaggio d’inverno, 1971)
Thanks to the efforts of the Comitato Pro Casarola, a group of lovers of the Apennines and enthusiasts of the Bertoluccis’ work, Casa Bertolucci has for almost twenty years been a point of reference for anyone wishing to visit the Parma mountains in a spirit of discovery and with a desire to be moved by glimpses of unexpected poetry.
The house is indeed the destination for guided tours, book presentations, debates, and cultural and musical talks, as well as a natural setting for readings and poetry gatherings.
The organisers of Casa Bertolucci have tenaciously succeeded in securing protection for this dwelling: which is not, as is almost always the case, a birthplace, but a chosen and inspired place in the life and poetry of Attilio, as well as in the cinematic inspirations of Bernardo and Giuseppe.
“This eighteenth-century house, which today is empty of people but full of memories,” write those in charge of the Committee, “speaks to us of a poet father and two film-director sons, a house and a small village perched at a thousand metres in the Parma Apennines, which were the cradle and origin not only of so much poetry, but also of love and beauty, a beauty that Bernardo knew so well because he lived on beauty and knew how to give it back to others.
“And it is thanks to them that very important figures of the Italian and international cultural scene have passed through Casarola, from Roberto Benigni to Pier Paolo Pasolini, from Giorgio Bassani to Enzo Siciliano, and then actors, directors, critics, poets, men of letters. Close friends of the Bertolucci family who over time have returned, always with enthusiasm and affection, becoming friends of Casarola too.”
To find out more about the Bertolucci Park at Casarola:
https://www.parchiletterari.com/contributi-scheda.php?ID=06104
