dtwo episodes of Reports (aired in April 2017) focused on the budgets and acquisitions of the film studios of Papigno, a fraction of the municipality of Terni which hosts some spaces used for filming. At the time Roberto Benigni had decided to sue the program. But now the plaintiff has decided to withdraw the lawsuit.
The history of Papigno’s Umbria Studios
The film studios of Papigno I am a piece of Benigni’s heart, he also toured in those spaces Life is Beautiful, Pinocchio And The tiger and the snow. Owned by Cinecittà Luce SpA since 1997 and managed by Cinecittà Studios SpA since 2005, the Umbria Studios were strongly desired by Roberto Benigni and his wife Nicoletta Braschi.
Which transformed precisely a old complex of calcium carbide and calcium cyanamide factories in a film studio. A space of 90 hectares divided into three studios. One of these, the “theater 3”, is occupied by a 30 x 21 meter swimming pool, with all the tools to be able to shoot underwater.
Roberto and Nicoletta’s idea was to make it a new national cinematographic centre. Operation failed, plus a debt of five million euros, which was taken over in 2005 by Cinecittà Studios, the company that, in fact, managed the Umbria Studios. The focus of the services of Reports it was all about the return of Cinecittà to public hands and posed a question: Would this operation have also absorbed the loss-making investments of the Italian cinema couple?
The note from the lawyer of Roberto Benigni and Nicoletta Braschi
Now the actors’ lawyer, Michele Gentiloni, has announced that Benigni and Braschi withdrew their defamation lawsuit brought against the Rai 3 program. «In the interest of Messrs Nicoletta Braschi and Roberto Benigni, on their own and as partners of Melampo Cinematografica Srl, I inform you that yesterday the Court of Rome, criminal section VII, defined with sentence of extinction of the crime for remission of lawsuit the pending hearing against Drs. Giorgio Mottola and Sigfrido Ranucci».
Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi and Giorgio Cantarini in “Life is beautiful”, 1997. (Sergio Strizzi/IPA)
He explained: «During the episodes of 10 and 17 April 2017 of the broadcast Reports false news had been spread and seriously damaging to the reputation of my clients, in relation to the story of the Papigno film studios. Following a lawsuit, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Rome brought Drs. Mottola and Ranucci to trial for the crime of aggravated defamation».
But then what happened so that the actor – guest at the last Sanremo Festival with a monologue focused on the Italian Constitution – decided to withdraw his complaint? The lawyer himself explains it. “During the course of the investigation, the defendants issued a press release in which they corrected the false news spread about Messrs. Braschi and Benigni and regretted the effects of the offending service. Having taken note of the press release, my clients decided to postpone the lawsuit and thus extinguish the judgement”.
The press release of the journalists of Reports
The press release in question, signed by Sigfrido Ranucci and Giorgio Mottola, speaks of the nature of the funding launched to restructure the studios.
«With reference to the episodes of Reports of 10 and 17 April 2017 we acknowledge that Nicoletta Braschi and Roberto Benigni used only personal funds to buy and renovate Papigno’s studios. The purchase and restructuring of Papigno’s studios gave the possibility to create masterpieces such as Life is Beautiful, Pinocchio And The tiger and the snow. Nicoletta Braschi and Roberto Benigni managed to recover a large part of the huge investment made on the occasion of the purchase and renovation of the Papigno studios».
And the journalists of Reports they continued. «In 2005, Nicoletta Braschi and Roberto Benigni sold the Papigno studios to Cinecittà Studios, a leading public limited company in the sector, privately managed at the time. From the moment of purchase by Cinecittà Studios, Nicoletta Braschi and Roberto Benigni no longer had any responsibility in the subsequent management of Cinecittà Studios».
The press release concludes with some statements that they do not suggest a rectification of the conductor Reports Sigfrido Ranucci and the journalist Giorgio Mottola. Rather a a clarification. «We never said that Benigni and Braschi took advantage of public funding to renovate Papigno’s studios. We are sorry if any misunderstandings arose following the service and we are pleased that these further clarifications have allowed Nicoletta Braschi and Roberto Benigni to renounce the judicial initiatives undertaken against us”.
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