Tellaro is a small fishing village, perched on a cliff on the east coast of the Gulf of La Spezia in Liguria , northern Italy. It is a frazione of the comune (municipality) of Lerici . It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy").
7-463: Tellaro has been the destination for many Italian and foreign artists. Mario Soldati made it his home in the last years of his life. Tellaro is one of the seaside villages that annually participate in the Palio del Golfo , an annual boat race held in the gulf of La Spezia. Among the festivals of particular interest is the underwater Christmas celebrating the birth of Jesus on Christmas night. Every year
14-639: The Liceo Sociale , a Jesuit school, and finished secondary school at age 17. He then studied humanities at the University of Turin . At that time, the University was a hotbed of intellectual activity and the young Soldati met and befriended the likes of activist and writer Carlo Levi and journalist Giacomo Debenedetti , who were his seniors. He later studied History of Art at the University of Rome. He started publishing novels in 1929. He achieved
21-619: The Ligurian village. There are many legends about Tellaro. The most famous tells the story an attack by Saracen pirates in the Middle Ages. The village was saved by a giant octopus that warned the population by climbing up the church tower and ringing the bells. The 2021 animated film Luca was primarily based on the nearby Cinque Terre towns, however the Pixar animation team visited Tellaro in addition and drew inspiration from it for
28-660: The early 1940s movement in Italian cinema known as calligrafismo . Other popular films were Eugenie Grandet , based on Balzac 's novel, with Alida Valli ; Fuga in Francia (1948); The River Girl (starring Sophia Loren ), and La provinciale (starring Gina Lollobrigida ). Soldati also regularly published articles in Italian newspapers, including Il Mondo , Il Corriere della Sera , La Stampa , Avanti , L'Unità and Il Giorno . Soldati died at Lerici in 1999. He
35-543: The film. 44°03′35″N 9°55′45″E / 44.05972°N 9.92917°E / 44.05972; 9.92917 Mario Soldati Mario Soldati (17 November 1906 – 19 June 1999) was an Italian writer and film director. In 1954, he won the Strega Prize for Lettere da Capri. He directed several works adapted from novels, and worked with leading Italian actresses, such as Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida . A native of Turin , Soldati attended
42-578: The statue of the baby Jesus emerges from the water carried by a group of divers and placed in the manger, in a setting of over 8,000 candles and celebrated by fireworks over the sea. The patron saint of Tellaro is St. George, which is celebrated on the 23rd of April. The "Festival of the Octopus", which takes place every year on the second Sunday in August, organized by the Unione Sportiva active in
49-465: The widest notice with America primo amore , published in 1935, a memoir of the time he spent teaching at Columbia University . He won literary awards for his work, most notably the Strega Prize for Lettere da Capri in 1954. Also interested in film, Soldati began directing in 1938. His most well-known films are Piccolo mondo antico (1941) and Malombra (1942) with Isa Miranda , both based on novels by Antonio Fogazzaro . These two films belong to
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