Who were Italy’s «Monuments Men», the ones who saved its works of art during the Second World War? Against an immense heritage they were very few, and for the most part very young. The most emblematic of them is Pasquale Rotondi, a hero almost unknown today, who saved some 10,000 works — among them Giorgione’s enigmatic The Tempest and Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus — from bombing raids and German looting.
The rescue operation, set up in 1939 by the Minister of Education Giuseppe Bottai, charges the young superintendent of the Marche region with hiding the country’s most important works of art in the Montefeltro hills. After combing the territory, Pasquale Rotondi identifies two ideal hiding places: the fortress of Sassocorvaro and the Palace of the Princes of Carpegna. They prove so perfect that the treasures of Venice, Milan and Rome arrive there alongside those of the Marche.
After 8 September 1943 the Ministry no longer exists: it is moved north, under the Italian Social Republic, while Bottai is hunted by the Germans to be executed. The notorious Kunstschutz, an SS-led unit, is tasked with removing from Italy the works demanded by Hitler and Göring. Pasquale Rotondi finds himself alone, without means and without authority to defend them. The only people at his side are his wife Zea and his driver Augusto, along with a handful of caretakers and carabinieri, guarding the largest concentration of art ever assembled in centuries of history.
Credits
- Directed byRoberto Dordit
- StoryRoberto Dordit
- ScreenplayRoberto Dordit and Claudio Pallottini
- CastSimone Liberati, Antonio de Matteo, Lia Grieco, Victor Carlo Vitale
- WithMassimo Bitossi, Emanuele Ciocca, Antonio Balbi, Federico Marignetti
- CinematographyClaudio Zamarion
- Production designMaurizio Carraro
- CostumesMetella Raboni
- EditingNicola Moruzzi
- Editing supervisorSilvia Di Domenico
- Original musicRemo Anzovino
- Produced byMariella Li Sacchi, Amedeo Letizia and Fabio Mancini for Qualityfilm
- ProductionQualityfilm in collaboration with Rai Cinema
- Co-productionStaragara (Slovenia)
- Supported byMiC – Direzione generale Cinema e audiovisivo, Fondazione Marche Cultura – Marche Film Commission
- DistributionRS Productions
- CountryItaly, Slovenia
- GenreHistorical drama
- Running time106′
- FestivalBif&st – Bari International Film Festival 2025, official selection