Film · 2002

Pinocchio

A nineteenth-century Tuscan village, built inside a disused chemical factory.

Act one

Collodi's village,
inside a factory.

"Disney understood nothing of Pinocchio."

— Danilo Donati, production designer of the film
who passed away on 1 December 2001, before its release.

After "Life Is Beautiful", Roberto Benigni bought a former chemical factory in Papigno, on the outskirts of Terni, and converted it into film studios. It is here that, between late 2000 and June 2001, Danilo Donati — Oscar winner, costume designer for Fellini and Pasolini — designed the monumental sets of Pinocchio: a full-scale nineteenth-century Tuscan village, a piazza, Mangiafuoco's theatre, the Land of Toys with its four hundred and seventy-seven handmade toys.

Monumental scenographic building erected inside the sound stage at the former Papigno plant, alongside the original industrial structures — A nineteenth-century house inside the Papigno sound stage

Arched gateway and painted facades of the Tuscan village built at Papigno, with technical scaffolding visible through the arch — The village's main gateway

Medieval Tuscan tower rebuilt in faux stone at Papigno, next to the Sangemini signage — A medieval tower, San Gimignano-style

Act two

Our first film,
entirely on our own.

On this film Creation Art stepped out of the team for the first time in its history. The company had opened less than two years before; Ivano Ferrario had just left Carlo Maggi's team, where he had grown up as a plasterer. It was Mario Cotone, the producer of Pinocchio — a father figure to Ivano in Italian cinema after Life Is Beautiful, Little Buddha, The Last Emperor — who told him: "the next film you'll do on your own".

That "next film" was Pinocchio. To handle it, Creation Art split into two permanent teams: one in our workshops, where the village facades were modelled in fibreglass, the faux-stone arches, the Renaissance gateways, even an octagonal baptistery-like structure; another on set, between Terni and Papigno, where the pieces arrived ready to be mounted in place. It is the operational model that would accompany Creation Art for the next twenty years.

Double facade in faux medieval stone, plaster worked by hand to simulate eighty years of nineteenth-century patina — Two facades in faux stone, worked by hand

Three-storey civic tower in Tuscan style, rebuilt one-to-one with painted bricks and plaster details — The civic tower of the village

Two-storey Tuscan building with painted shutter, plaster aged by stripping technique and stone gateway — The finishes, one by one, made in our workshop

Behind the scenes

Four hundred million lire
of sandpaper and patina.

Pinocchio is one of the most expensive films ever produced by Italian cinema: forty to forty-five million euros of budget. Donati demanded a precise aesthetic — his signature is unmistakable, coming from the Fellini and Pasolini school — and translated it into saturated palettes, baroque carvings, details that hold up to the close-ups of Dante Spinotti's camera. Creation Art worked like an orchestra: twenty-eight weeks of shooting in front, eight months of pre-production behind.

Cobbled street of the Tuscan village built at Papigno: painted facades, narrow alleys, forced perspective for shooting — A street of the Tuscan village. Papigno (Terni), set still standing in 2005.

The monumental scale

Three sound stages of the Papigno plant were covered with the Tuscan village at one-to-one scale: alleys, piazzas, a church, Mangiafuoco's theatre, Geppetto the carpenter's workshop. For the Land of Toys, 477 prop toys were built, each modelled and painted by hand.

Donati's signature

Danilo Donati came to Pinocchio after having built the iconography of Fellini's 8½, of Pasolini's Decameron, of Fellini's Casanova. Fifty years of baroque, saturated, almost dreamlike scenography. On Pinocchio his signature is the colourful palette: ochres, Pompeian reds, cerulean blues. CA translated every one of his drawings into matter.

The patina of the fable

No "fake antique". Donati did not want "old that looks ancient" — he wanted the tone of the fable: intense yet subdued colours, dusty like a late-nineteenth-century illustrated children's book. The finishes were layered by stripping, by sponge, one veil at a time, then sanded back to "subtract" rather than add.

45 M€ production budget · among the highest in Italian cinema of the era

28 weeks of shooting · 8 months of pre-production

4,000 costumed extras · 477 toys built by hand

Village building with small balcony and painted shutters — **Shutters and balconies.** The village facades with details that hold up to the camera's close-up.

Narrow alley between two buildings of the Tuscan village — **An alley.** Forced perspective, weathered plaster to convey eighty years of life.

Three-storey palazzo with balustrades in Tuscan Renaissance style — **A noble palazzo.** The Tuscan Renaissance rendered at one-to-one scale.

Pinocchio in front of the audience at Mangiafuoco's theatre — crowd in nineteenth-century costume, the set's carved wooden wall. — Mangiafuoco's theatre

The arched gateway of the Tuscan village built in Papigno: behind the arch, a service staircase betrays that we are inside a sound stage. — The village gateway, from the inside

Medieval Tuscan tower rebuilt in faux stone in Papigno, set against the wall of the former Sangemini plant. — A tower, San Gimignano-style

It was a truly disobedient film. There was no way to discipline it.
Just like Pinocchio.

Roberto Benigni tuttobenigni.it, 2002

Second life

Four years later,
Benigni returns to Papigno.

The photos from our set archive are dated May 2005: the village is still standing, the same alleys, the same facades. Roberto Benigni returned to Papigno to shoot La Tigre e la Neve, his film after Pinocchio, and used the same sound stages, the same palazzos. For a few years the village became a visitable attraction known as "The Land of Toys"; today part of the sets have been transferred to Cinecittà.

A portion of the Tuscan village still standing at Papigno in 2005, four years after Pinocchio: painted facades, interior perspective towards the former factory — **The village in 2005.**
The 2001 sets still in service for La Tigre e la Neve. *Photo: Creation Art archive*

Panoramic view of the scenographic village built inside the former Papigno electrochemical plant: nineteenth-century facades and the industrial architecture that contains them — **The village inside the factory.**
The Tuscan architectures under the beams of the former electrochemical plant. *Photo: Creation Art archive*

Tech sheet

The most expensive Italian film of 2002

Forty to forty-five million euros of budget — one of the most expensive Italian films ever produced up to that point. Benigni and Nicoletta Braschi's Melampo Cinematografica brought the production to Papigno; Mario Cotone signed on as executive producer.

Two Davids won, six nominations

Pinocchio received six nominations at the 2003 David di Donatello awards. Two wins: Best production design and Best costumes, both to Danilo Donati — posthumous awards, because Donati had passed away on 1 December 2001, before the film had even been released in cinemas. That same year it also won the Nastro d'Argento for best score by Nicola Piovani.

The Land of Toys, by hand

For the Land of Toys scene, 477 prop toys were built: hobby-horses, tambourines, marionettes, toy soldiers, scaled pottery. Each modelled and painted by hand. Under Donati's aesthetic direction, nothing came from an industrial mould: everything passed through the workshops.

Six months on set

Principal photography began on 25 June 2001 and lasted twenty-eight weeks — of which twenty-two on the sound stages at Papigno. Before the actors: eight months of pre-production, in which the scenographic workshops (Creation Art included) raised the village from scratch. Afterwards: another eight months of post-production.

All production data

Type: Feature film
Direction and lead: Roberto Benigni
Screenplay: Roberto Benigni · Vincenzo Cerami
Production designer / costumes: Danilo Donati (posthumous)
Art direction: Marco Ficorella · Diego Maria Giorgetti
Director of photography: Dante Spinotti
Music: Nicola Piovani
Main cast: Roberto Benigni · Nicoletta Braschi · Carlo Giuffré · Kim Rossi Stuart
Production: Melampo Cinematografica · Mario Cotone executive producer
Shooting: 25 June 2001 — end of 2001 · 28 weeks
Release: 11 October 2002 (Italy) · 25 December 2002 (USA)
Location: Cinecittà Studios Papigno (Terni) · Castelfalfi · Manziana · Furbara · Malta
Our role: Scenographic elements in fibreglass, plaster and wood: facades of the Tuscan village, arches, Renaissance gateways, octagonal baptistery structure. First major film entirely under our own company, after opening in 2000.
Awards: 6 David 2003 nominations (2 won: production design + costumes to Donati posthumously) · Nastro d'Argento best score (Piovani) · Ciak d'Oro best costume