Nothe second and final episode of the miniseries Leopardi – The poet of the infinite (tonight at 9.30pm on Rai 1), director Sergio Rubini focuses on the impossible love between the poet and the Countess Fanny Targioni Tozzetti, madly in love with Antonio, Giacomo’s dear friend. Not only that, the series also tells about the friendship between the two men.
The relationship between Fanny, wife and mother of two daughters, and Antonio Ranieri began thanks to Leopardi. The love that the poet feels for the countess, even if not reciprocated, is the only consolation in his life. Dedicated to her Aspasiahis most intimate poem. In the fiction he also writes love letters to her under the pseudonym Ranieri. Letters thanks to which the countess consolidates her love for Antonio.
Leopardi, the poet of the infinite: the plot of the second and final episode of the TV series
Naples. 1838. Cholera is over. Antonio Ranieri (Cristiano Caccamo) receives a letter from Fanny Targioni Tozzetti (Giusy Buscemi), who is about to arrive in the city. The two meet and kiss. Their love grew thanks to Giacomo Leopardi (Leonardo Maltese). «Or in spite of him?», asks Fanny. From that moment Antonio tells the countess how Giacomo died and how much he was in love with her.
Eight years earlier, in Florence, Antonio, Giacomo and Fanny work on a project together: Le Flaneura weekly newspaper that is not political, not fashionable, not based on opinions, but on paradox. Giacomo, to hit his detractors (Austrian censorship had prohibited the publication of his writings), he would have relied on the weapons of ridicule, and not of reasoning. Fanny would take care of the illustrations. But the newspaper fails in the bud: is seized before publication.
Giusy Buscemi and Leonardo Maltese in “Leonardi – The poet of the infinite”. (Rai)
Despite this, the three live an idyllic time. Giacomo is madly in love with Fannywhile Antonio of the actress Lenina: «Fanny is not my kind of woman», confesses to the poet. The two friends devise plans together to win her over. Ranieri encourages Giacomo to declare himself but the poet is defenseless in the face of such beauty. Love is his fixed thought and the main fuel for writing poetry and prose. But Fanny declares herself to Antonio and kisses him. At that point Ranieri, so as not to make Giacomo suffer, leaves for Rome.
Giacomo Leopardi’s obsessive love for Fanny
Giacomo suffers from unrequited love. Only later does he learn, from Fanny herself, of the feelings the girl has for Ranieri. «The distance didn’t help me forget him. I miss her”, the countess confesses to the poet. Leopardi is not pining, or at least he doesn’t show it at first, now he is aware that the countess will never be his, and he writes to his friend inviting him to return for the woman’s sake. Despite this, he will never stop thinking about it, until the end.
Leopardi suffers for love and his body becomes increasingly fragile. In 1833 he moved to Naples to Ranieri’s house, where he met his friend’s sister. He writes here The broom And Aspasiathe love poem behind which Fanny’s name hides. Leopardi professes to be godless and reveals himself to be a supporter of the concept of individual virtue: «Only from the virtue of citizens can a virtuous state be born». His thoughts are too revolutionary for the time.
Leonardo Maltese as Giacomo Leopardi. (Rai)
Fanny’s presence is constant in his thoughts. It is he who responds, without his friend’s knowledge, to the letters that the countess writes to Antonio. With the help of Ranieri’s sister he manages to send them. Only after his death does Fanny discover that those letters were born from the hands of the poet, the most important love of her life, who never lived.
Leopardi, the poet of the infinite: where it was filmed
THEhe miniseries directed by Sergio Rubini was filmed in Recanati, Leopardi’s hometownand in other places in the Marche region. Some settings have been reconstructed. Filming was also carried out in Mantua, Puglia (among the locations Old Taranto, Martina Franca and the beach of Vignanotica in the Foggia area), a Naples, near Turin and in Laziobetween Ariccia and Civita Castellana.
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