''La presa di Roma'', also known as ''La breccia di Porta Pia'' or ''Bandiera bianca'', and distributed in English-speaking countries under the title ''The Capture of Roma'' is a

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony i ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

silent

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

directed by

Filoteo Alberini Filoteo Alberini (14 March 1865 – 12 April 1937) was an Italian inventor, movie director, and one of the earliest pioneers of cinema. Biography Born in Orte, he began working as a handyman in his native town and, after completing the compulsor ...

.Review and link to watch the film with Italian intertitles and English subtitles:

Plot

The film recreates the final events leading to

Italian unification The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

in September 1870. After

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

had refused King

Victor Emmanuel II Victor Emmanuel II ( it, Vittorio Emanuele II; full name: ''Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso di Savoia''; 14 March 1820 – 9 January 1878) was King of Sardinia from 1849 until 17 March 1861, when he assumed the title o ...

demand to cede to the new

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

the last remnants of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

, the latter sent his army to place

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

under a state of

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition warfare, attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity con ...

. Despite a last effort by Italian general Carchidio, the head of the papal force General Hermann Kanzler (it) refused to surrender. On 20 September, after a cannonade of three hours had breached the Aurelian Walls at

Porta Pia Porta Pia is a gate in the Aurelian Walls of Rome, Italy. One of Pope Pius IV's civic improvements to the city, it is named after him. Situated at the end of a new street, the Via Pia, it was designed by Michelangelo in replacement for the Port ...

, the

Bersaglieri The Bersaglieri, singular Bersagliere, (, "sharpshooter") are a troop of marksmen in the Italian Army's infantry corps. They were originally created by General Alessandro La Marmora on 18 June 1836 to serve in the Royal Sardinian Army, which ...

entered Rome and Pius IX ordered General Kanzler to hoist the white flag on the dome of

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...

. The film ends with an apotheosis showing the heroes of Italian independence.

Release

The first projection took place on 16 Septembre 1905 at the Cinematografo Artistico in

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

. It was followed by a screening outdoors on a large screen in front of the Porta Pia attended by thousands of people in the context of the celebration of the 35th anniversary of the event.

Restoration

The film was originally composed of 8 shots and 7 intertitles and lasted about 10 minutes. The surviving version, restored in 2005 by the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia,

Cineteca Nazionale Cineteca Nazionale is a film archive located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1949. By law it manages the so-called legal deposit, with the task of collecting, preserving and disseminating the productions of Italian cinema. It is the only Italian ...

xperimental Cinematography Center, National Film Libraryon the basis of material found in Italy, Argentina, United States and United Kingdom, only includes four shots. The missing shots are replaced by production stills and/or a descriptive text.See end credits at:

Analysis

All shots were filmed with a fixed camera, each one constituting an autonomous scene. Intertitle: General Carchidio sent to parley at the Milvian Bridge. 1. Studio set representing a city gate and a statue. A general enters from the right on horseback with an escort of two officers. He dismounts and salutes two waiting officers. He is blindfolded and taken into a carriage which enters the gate. Intertitle: From General Kanzler: No surrender! 2. Studio set representing a luxurious office with tapestries and a portrait of Pope Pius IX. General Kanzler sitting at his desk at the Ministry of the Armies stands up when General Carchidio enters. Both salute. Carchidio tries to convince Kanzler, showing him a map but Kanzler refuses his proposals. Carchidio leaves and Kanzler sits back at his desk looking desperate. 3. Same set as 1. Carchidio exits the carriage and leaves on horseback to the right with his accompanying officers. Intertitle: At the camp of the "bersaglieri": To Arms! 4. Missing shot replaced in the restored version by the following text: "Dawn of September 20, on the Via Nomentana The bugler sounds the alarms and the soldiers rush to the assault of the city, to the cry of: Long live Italy and Long live Rome!" Intertitle: The last cannonade. 5. Missing shot replaced in the restored version by a production still showing a studio set with a group of soldiers firing a canon and in the background the city walls with the Porta Pia, and the following text: "The battery of cannons commanded by Major Luigi Pelloux opens from Villa Albani the breach in the walls of Porta Pia." Intertitle: The breach at Porta Pia: To the assault! 6. On location shot. A large number of soldiers come running in from the left and enter the city through the breach in the wall. Intertitle: The white flag. 7. Missing shot replaced in the restored version by the following text: Pius IX orders General Kanzler to hoist the white flag on the cross of St. Peter's dome. Intertitle: The apotheosis. 8. Missing shot replaced in the restored version by the following text: "Free and independent Italy pays tribute to Cavour, to Vittorio Emanuele Il, to Garibaldi and Mazzini, its great creators, with the palm of victory and the applause of the people" and a colorized production still showing in the middle of clouds a young woman holding palms and a large Italian flag surrounded by fathers of the fatherland

Count Cavour Camillo Paolo Filippo Giulio Benso, Count of Cavour, Isolabella and Leri (, 10 August 1810 – 6 June 1861), generally known as Cavour ( , ), was an Italian politician, businessman, economist and noble, and a leading figure in the movement towa ...

Vittorio Emanuele II Victor Emmanuel II ( it, Vittorio Emanuele II; full name: ''Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso di House of Savoy, Savoia''; 14 March 1820 – 9 January 1878) was Kingdom of Sardinia, King of Sardinia from 1849 until 17 Marc ...

Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, patr ...

and

Giuseppe Mazzini Giuseppe Mazzini (, , ; 22 June 1805 – 10 March 1872) was an Italian politician, journalist, and activist for the unification of Italy (Risorgimento) and spearhead of the Italian revolutionary movement. His efforts helped bring about the in ...

References

External links

*
presa di Roma (1905) The Capture of Roma''
a
A Cinema History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Presa di Roma, La 1905 films Italian black-and-white films Italian silent short films Italian war films 1900s war films