Fellini rebuilt his dreams amid memories within the fictional world of prose theatre, while the Tavianis create their dreams in nature by transforming the Tuscan countryside, famous cities, churches, cottages and squares into a boundless stage. The trip through places in Italy from the Sicily of Kaos to the Tuscan Night of San Lorenzo becomes a unique and inimitable experience. The great Renaissance pictoral tradition, the melodramatic musical world, the neorealistic cinematographic period have awakened new feelings in Tavianis' films which contributed to their works a tremendous pathos and desperate poetry.
Their cinema was built according to the famous tradition of Italian craftsmanship just like in the old workshops of the by-gone Renaissance. The care of every intricate detail from the scenography to the costumes, from the music to the film editing, contribute to the creation of highly valued works of art. The search for truth and simplicity are the key points around which this poetic world revolves. Through the poetry of the scenery, this book tries to penetrate the fascinating world which has created unforgetable creations, where personal history fuses with that of the community, where dream and utopia remain the secret hope in a world filled with pain and solitude. The poetry of our lives: the lights of Tuscany, the stones of Sardinia, the colours of Sicily are essential elements to compose a rich harmonious symphony and find eventual new paths.