Chapter Twenty-Five

Here, we explore the long-term friendship between Rossano and the woman who would, after Lydia's death, become his second wife. Her name was Ilse and her story is really quite extraordinary.  

This chapter shows Rossano now as an older man but, as you will read in the book, someone who was still spritely and enjoying life. But, we also discover a man who is more content and happy to live the quiet life alongside Ilse. 

Never far from being the hero, we learn of an event where he saved Ilse's life when on holiday with her in Salerno.

Rossano gives us his chicken recipe that was on the menu at Georgio's in Rome for some time during La Dolce Vita. And, we get some insight from Ilse into Rossano's last hours on this earth.

Here is a very impromptu photo of the couple taken by renowned Italian photographer Umberto Pizzi. Thanks to Umberto and Sabrina Pizzi for this.

Rossano and Ilse married just over three years after Lydia's death and they moved to the small community of Morlupo just north of Rome. I've yet to visit this area but, from the photos I've seen, it looks a stunningly beautiful area. 

Charitable work has always been important to Rossano (and to Lydia) and we learn a little about his contributions to various charities over the years. 

During my visit to the actor's retirement home in Bologna, my guide there (Alberto) kindly retrieved Rossano's file outlining the donations made by him. I had been in touch with them in respect of my research but they didn’t know I was visiting. My intention was simply to take photos of the building. And, this was during Covid so they wouldn’t have allowed me inside anyway.

But, I knocked on the door. Alberto came outside and, in my limited Italian, I told him who I was. He seemed overjoyed to see me and, in his limited English, asked me to wait. A couple of minutes later, he led me to an old chapel at the back of the home. This had been converted into a library with floor to ceiling shelves full of scripts, books on theatre and film along with biographies of actors, directors, writers etc.

It was also home to a small puppet theatre. Bologna is known for its puppetry and my guide happily showed off many of the scene designs and puppets they had. He had also brought a folder with him, marked Rossano Brazzi, that held information about his donations to the home. Just when I thought we'd finished, he led me next door to a huge theatre which belonged to the home. It isused by the city for various performances and the residents of the home always have an invitation to attend the shows.

It just proved to me, at the beginning of my research, that if I knocked on doors, pleasant surprises happened. Photos of this visit are a little further along 

Third photo along is the community of Morlupo, just north of Rome. Photo attributed to Mario Carderi Permission GNU Free Documentation License