
Mario Monicelli gets to finish off the series 12 REGISTI a 12 CITTA’ with a visit to Verona, in collaboration with legendary screenwriter Suso Cecchi D’Amico (BICYCLE THIEVES, THE LEOPARD, Monicelli’s own BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET). I don’t recall the other episodes feature prominent writer credits, and one assumes the directors scripted for themselves, with mixed results.
D’Amico was so prolific and prestigious, she’d worked with several of the other filmmakers in this series: Zeffirelli, Pontecorvo, Bolognini, Rosi. She rewards Monicelli with a lovely voice-over and some quirky action, making a modern version of Zeno who sits fishing at the start, then surprisingly takes to the air, his levitation motivating a guided tour with helicopter shots.


I’m not familiar enough with Zeno to understand why he should fly — I thought he said motion was impossible? But the aerobatics may be a callback to MIRACLE IN MILAN, on which D’Amico collaborated.
The film is also only the second in this series to directly reference another movie, and the first to reference one by a member of the 12 Registi — Franco Zeffirelli, since Verona is the city of Romeo and Juliet. Although Lizzani’s earlier reference to THE LEOPARD counts as a nod to D’Amico, I guess.




What else? We begin with the birds and fishes, discovering the city via the animal kingdom, which I don’t think has been tried in the other eleven films. We track along porticos, which certainly has been. We allow Verdi his place on the soundtrack, which is familiar but never a bad idea. Sound effects from the historical past — the clangour of battle — flood the soundtrack elsewhere, a trope I remember from the profiles of castles and abbeys the BBC used to air whenever a sporting event was cancelled. It is stated that Verona is home to the only two smiling figures in the world of statuary, which is one in the eye for Buddha. Rather eurocentric, and while that may have advantages in a film of this kind, it clearly has drawbacks.
No mention of the football, I’m happy to say, but we do get Verona’s impressive arena.

And the filmmakers have found the most engaging way to drop in historical facts — as mysteries. Where did Giotto live? Was this Juliet’s balcony? Where did Dante live when he was hiding out in Verona? Amusingly, the great poet’s statue seems to be pondering this very question, a beautiful bit of montage.

Strangely, for the last film in the series, Monicelli’s episode has everything but an ending. I think we need to see our modern Zeno land somewhere. The build-up to the evening concert at Verona Arena is grand, Verdi is doing his work, but we never arrive at a shot which suggests the kind of grand finale that’s needed. Or is that just me?
If you were going to shuffle the films to pick a new number 12, which one would you pick?