Italy 1993; 56 min.

Rosabella is the absurd name given to Rosebud in the Italian version of Citizen Kane, but it may also indicate the contradictory relation between Orson Welles and Italy.
At the 1948 Venice Film Festival the disastrous criticism of his Macbeth made him declare: "This film is for an audience that understands. I am not liked in Italy. My love for this country is not returned".
Yet in the same Italy he lived for twenty years, and the life in Italy of Welles left a chain of memories in those who lived close to him at the time.

Thus our seeking of direct evidence became a fascinating journey across Orson Welles' Italian years, far from the folklore of the Dolce vita and the Restaurants of Rome.
Italian years that were mainly relations with cinema technicians (cameramen, editors) whom he involved in his endless projects, many of which - so many times - remained unfinished, often through no fault of his.
Cameramen editors and producers who lived for months or years with him as in a tunnel. After their Welles experiences some no longer worked, some changed their profession, others felt a certain responsibility for the rest of their lives. And his life in Italy was full of private sentiments. From Lea Padovani to his great love for Paola Mori who became his third wife. Then his attachment to Venice and other unexpected places: Tuscania, Viterbo, the castle of Bracciano, the EUR area of Rome, that we find transformed in films he completed (Othello), that remained unfinished (Don Quixote) or remained only projects (Julius Caesar).

Our attempt has been to trace the story of his life in Italy but this is also the story of a number of Italians who narrate how their lives were marked by Orson Welles, the one and only Welles, and how much they missed him.
(Source: production notes, RAI Trade)

Directed by:

Gianfranco Giagni and Ciro Giorgini

Testimonies by:

Lello Bersani, Mauro Bonanni, Walter Chiari, Suzanne Cloutier, Mariano Faggiani, Arnoldo Foà, Gray Graver, Francesco Lavagnino, Maurizio Lucidi, Renzo Lucidi, Roberto Perpignani, Alessandro Tasca di Cutò, Giorgio Tonti, Rosalba Tonti, Oberdan Troiani and ORSON Welles

Produced by:

Maia Bonelli

Editing:

Alessandro Cottani

Sound:

Brutopop, Gopher

Sound:

Ermanno Ghisio, Fabio Badalà

Presented by:

Filmago, for Tape Connection

Foreign Distribution:

RAI Trade