Virgilio Marchi

Virgilio Marchi (born January 21, 1895 in Livorno , Italy , † April 30, 1960 in Rome , ibid) was an Italian architect , film architect , costume designer and architectural theorist, an important exponent of Futurism .

Live and act

Marchi received his artistic training at the Instituto Tecnico in his hometown of Livorno. After his military service from 1915 on, he made contacts with the avant-garde of the Italian architecture scene and signed the “Roma Futura” manifesto, which was intended to revolutionize the building industry at the time. After completing his training at the Scuola Superiore di Architettura in Siena , Marchi went to Rome again, where he wanted to implement his ideas of a new Italian architecture. Marchi organized art exhibitions in the Casa d'Arte, which he built himself at the beginning of the 1920s, and in 1921 he designed an important exhibition in Ravenna in collaboration with Pasqualino Cangiullo , his brother, Gerardo Dottori and Ivo Panaggi . In 1924 Marchi showed new ways of modern architecture with his book “Architetta Futura”. In the same year he took part in the international technology exhibition in the Vienna Konzerthaus with his own designs . In 1925, Marchi was involved as an architect in various restoration and redesign work, including those of the Roman thermal baths in Rome's Via degli Avignonesi. In 1929 he designed the sets for two operas: L'italiana in Algeri and La Cenerentola , both from the pen of Gioachino Rossini .

The fascist regime Benito Mussolini's regime certainly appreciated Virgilio Marchi's artistic work: in 1931 the architect was appointed director of the Istituto d'Arte in Siena, and four years later he received a professorship at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia film school in Rome. At around the same time, Virgilio Marchi began regularly to deliver drafts for film structures. These feature films, which were made up to 1943/44, were largely state-supporting, but in several cases also pure mass dispersion. Marchi supplied the films of the leading protagonist of the Mussolini era, Alessandro Blasetti, as well as those of two innovators of Italian cinema after 1945, Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio de Sica . The decorations for the first three “Don Camillo and Peppone” comedies are among the best-known late works . Virgilio Marchi used the film-free time in the early post-war years to return to classical architecture, for example in 1948 he designed the Cinema Odeon in his hometown of Livorno.

Filmography

as a film architect, unless otherwise stated

• 1935: Milizia territorial
• 1936: ballerina
• 1936: I due sergenti
• 1937: Condottieri (also costumes)
• 1937: Sono stato io!
• 1938: Il conte di Brechard (also costumes)
• 1939: The cavalier with the mask / The mysterious avenger ( Un'avventura di Salvator Rosa )
• 1940: La conquista dell'aria
• 1940: The Iron Crown ( La corona di ferro )
• 1941: La cena delle beffe
• 1941: Pia de 'Tolomei
• 1942: Un pilota ritorna
• 1942: Luisa Sanfelice
• 1942: Lie of a summer night ( Quattro passi fra le nuovole )
• 1943: Maria Malibran
• 1943: Semper più difficile
• 1943: La fornarina
• 1944: Margherita da Cortona
• 1944: Sperduti nel buio
• 1947: Dove sta Zaza?
• 1949: The Holy Oath ( Monaca santa )
• 1949: Heaven over the swamps ( Cielo sulla palude )
• 1949: Francis, the juggler of God ( Francesco, giullare del dio )
• 1950: Against the law ( Contro la legge )
• 1950: Olivia
• 1950: Destiny in the Moor ( Il nido di Falasco )
• 1951: Umberto D.
• 1951: Don Camillo and Peppone ( Le petit monde de Don Camillo )
• 1951: Europe '51
• 1952: The public nuisance or: The justice system in trouble ( La presidentessa )
• 1952: Don Camillo's return ( Le retour de Don Camillo )
• 1953: Bianca's revenge ( Sul ponte di sospiri )
• 1953: forgive me! ( Perdonami! )
• 1953: Rome, Termini Station ( Stazione Termini )
• 1953: The Notorious ( Donne proibite )
• 1953: where is the freedom? ( Dov'è la libertà ...? )
• 1954: The daughter of Mata Hari ( La figlia di Mata Hari )
• 1954: The Gold of Naples ( L'oro di Napoli )
• 1954: The beggar of Notre Dame ( Le due orfanelle )
• 1955: The great battle of Don Camillo ( Don Camillo e l'onorevole Peppone )
• 1956: Bigamy is no pleasure ( Il bigamo )

literature

• Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 5: L - N. Rudolf Lettinger - Lloyd Nolan. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 263.

Web links

• Virgilio Marchi at the Internet Movie Database (English)