Marina Cicogna: Scritti e Scatti

Photographer Marina Cicogna is the granddaughter of Count Volpi, who established the first Libyan film festival in 1932. Countess Marina grew up surrounded by stars and, in 1967, became a film producer with Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto and La classe operaia va in paradiso. The success of these two films marked the beginning of a long list of productions including Medea, C'era una volta il West and Una stagione in inferno. This book accompanies an exhibition, designed by Dante Ferretti, which was staged in Rome's Villa Medici. A play on opulence and theatricality, Scritti e Scatti is comprised of approximately 80 candid black-and-white portrait shots of international celebrities from the golden days of the Dolce Vita: David Niven, Audrey Hepburn, Maria Callas, Charlie Chaplin, Jeanne Moreau, Cecil Beaton, Henry Fonda, Terence Stamp, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Rex Harrison, Catherine Deneuve, Brigitte Bardot, Monica Vitti and many others. "I wanted to find, through the photographs I had taken, the faces, the attitudes, landscapes that don't exist anymore, tokens of a time when all that is extraordinary seemed to us normal and everylasting," writes Cicogna in the preface to this book, which conveys the flavor of Cicogna's relationships with her subjects. In addition to Cicogna's own memoirs of the portraits, Scritti e Scatti includes recollections by friends such as Jeanne Moreau and Calvin Klein.