Page 64 - CoESPU Magazine 2017-3

Beginning in 1953, the
exhibition explores the
fundamental stages of
Zeffirelli's zealous
international career, made
all the more exciting by the
intense friendships he often
had with his greatest
collaborators. First and
foremost, Maria Callas,
who, under the direction of
Zeffirelli, performed
masterpieces by Verdi,
Puccini, Bellini, Rossini and
Donizetti. Alongside
priceless sketches and Scene’s costumes of movie “Romeo and Juliet”.
photographs of the shows is a costume worn by the Divina in Turco in Italia (courtesy of the Teatro
alla Scala in Milan).
The exhibition is divided into 20 chapters, more than half of them dedicated to opera. From a young
age, Zeffirelli was
fascinated by opera,
which he frequented as an
assiduous and passionate
spectator and defined as
"the Art that has it all: the
grassy meadow in
Olympus, where all the
Muses gather holding
hands". It is therefore
only natural that he chose
to dedicate himself first
and foremost to this
professional field.
Four rooms are dedicated
Sketch drawn by Zeffirelli for Romeo and Juliet in 1965. Temper and water color.
to composers (Pergolesi,
Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini and Barber) and another seven monographs rooms are dedicated to the
works that Zeffirelli revisited most often over the years, each time creating a different stagecraft:
Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Falstaff, La Traviata, Aida, Turandot, Carmen and Don Giovanni.
Of the other chapters, the first two that open the museum recall meetings with Luchino Visconti and
Maria Callas. Two more are dedicated to classical and modern theatre, and illustrate Zeffirelli’s
commitment to revitalizing the great classical theatre (especially those set in Italy, like Romeo and
Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing and Lorenzaccio) and promoting Italian dramaturgy abroad
(Verga, Pirandello and Eduardo de Filippo). Four chapters cover his most important
cinematographic works: films based on literary works (Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Sparrow),

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