"Cerchiamo un bambino distinto". La genesi di "Bellissima" nei soggetti di Cesare Zavattini

This contribution investigates, from a philological-historical perspective, the different versions of texts by Cesare Zavattini that will later merge into the subject of “Bellissima”, the film directed in 1951 by Luchino Visconti, starring Anna Magnani. Through a crucial decade for Italian cinema, the early forties and fifties of the twentieth century, the variants depict mutable scenarios through deep historical, political and cultural changes. From fascist Cinecittà animated by its stars swept away by the second world war to the change of gender of the two protagonists - first a widower and his son, then a woman willing to barter his daughter in exchange for the realization of their dreams - the variants of the subject draw a long-standing perspective in modern society: life becomes a show.