De Laurentiis and Napoli: Love and Mythomania

Who knows how Aurelio De Laurentiis gets up in the morning. Do you place your left or right foot first when getting out of bed? When the alarm goes off, do you turn on your side and snort or open your eyes full of life? It is pointless and yet fundamental to ask yourself questions of this kind, so banal and commonplace, when thinking about such an eccentric and special character. It makes you want to analyze Aurelio De Laurentiis from top to bottom. In fact, being close to him inspires a certain amount of fear, just like had to try it for example Curzio Malaparte in painting the good man Lenin (1932).

But perhaps our task is even more difficult. In fact, according to Malaparte’s own testimony, Lenin was just a “petty-bourgeois fanatic,” a “poor, timid and violent man.” De Laurentiis, on the other hand, is certainly not a petty bourgeoisHe is certainly not a poor man and there is nothing to suggest that shyness is part of his character. But De Laurentiis is not just that.