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quell’understatement che è la vera bellezza dell’isola.
Una volta, parlando della Sardegna un
amico caprese mi disse “Dotto’, in Sardegna ci
sono tanti nessuno che si credono qualcuno. A
Capri, invece, ci sono tantissimi qualcuno che
vogliono sentirsi nessuno”. Com’è vero!».
THE ISLAND OF LOVE
An Interview with EnricoVanzina
by Rossella Funghi
It’s the title of the Capri
episode from the latest film
by Enrico Vanzina,
who has always loved the island
Enrico Vanzina greets us in his spacious
office with a broad smile: “I just happen to
be writing an article about Capri,” he says.
It’s going to appear in Chi magazine, for which
Vanzina writes a regular column. In fact, the
director of dozens of big-screen Italian comedies
is also a prolific and talented writer who has
contributed to the Roman daily Il Messaggero
for ten years, written an infinite number of
screenplays, and published a several books as
well. His latest, Commedia all’italiana. Ritratto
di un Paese che non cambia (Italian Comedy:
Portrait of a Country that Never Changes) is just
out: a diary of sorts, a collection of memories and
reflections, faces and places, among them Capri.
Indeed, Enrico Vanzina’s love affair with
Capri is no recent development, and when he
starts talking about the island, he can’t stop:
“I’ve been going there since I was a child.
My mother loved the place and taught me to
love it. We often spent our holidays on Capri,
and we usually stayed at the Gatto Bianco, a
charming hotel typical of the island.”
Any particular recollections? “Any? Where to
start? Capri is the quintessential location in my
life. My wife is German; she’s always adored
the island. There was even a time, 1975 and
1976, when she had a jewellery shop in Via
Camerelle. We lived in a house down at Marina
Piccola, and we lived there for long periods of
time. I experienced the island practically as a
native, and I made lifelong friends, first with the
Morgano family and then with Gennarino, who
taught me to swim underwater. In fact, he and
Aurelio De Laurentiis and I even got involved in
a shark hunt once.”
Sharks, off of Capri? “That’s right: we were
convinced there was a shark circling the
island, so one morning we left at dawn with
buckets of cow’s blood and kilos of sardines,
ready for the chase. Naturally, we returned to
port empty-handed at the end of the day.”
Vanzina has another anecdote about Capri
he likes to tell, involving his father Steno.
The year is 1943, when the revolt against the
Germans broke out in Naples, the one known
as “The Four Days.” “My father, Dino De
Laurentiis, Leo Longanesi, and Mario Soldati
were in Naples and managed to obtain safe
conduct from the Americans to reach Capri,
which was a rest camp for the American
airmen. Anyway, the four of them were
perennially strapped for cash at the time, so
to get by they dreamed up bottles with labels
saying ‘Water from the Blue Grotto,’ illustrated
by my father and Longanesi - tap water, of
course, is all that was in them. In an early
demonstration of his entrepreneurial bent, De
Laurentiis sold them to the American soldiers
for a dollar a bottle, and the proceeds funded
their stay on the island for quite a while.”
But Capri also served Enrico Vanzina well as
a set for many of his films and TV movies,
from the miniseries Anni ’50, with Ezio
Greggio as Maresciallo Colombo, to the films
SPQR 2000 e ½ anni fa and A spasso nel
tempo, up to his latest for the big screen,
Un’estate al mare; one of its seven episodes
was filmed entirely on Capri.
“A rightful tribute to the most beautiful island
in the world,” says Vanzina. “We filmed in the
Piazzetta, at the Canzone del Mare, inside the
villa that used to belong to Valentino, and in
many other island locations.”
What is it about Capri that is just so special?
“I’ve been privileged to travel all over the world,
and I’ve never found another place like it. And
the reason, I think, is not only its intrinsic beauty
but also the intelligence of the islanders, who
have always displayed class and innate good
taste in welcoming their visitors, never losing
sight of that understatement which is the island’s
real beauty. You know, once I was talking to
one of my Capri friends about Sardinia, and he
said this: ‘Maestro, Sardinia is full of nobodies
who think they’re somebody. Capri, on the other
hand, is full of somebodies whose only desire is
to feel like nobody special.’ How true!”
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