Diario di un maestro

Soundtrack: (58:21min)

After releasing Fiorenzo Carpi’s musical masterpiece for TV “The Adventures of Pinocchio” (“Le Avventure di Pinocchio”), we were able to recover the stereo master tapes from the recording session and release a CD (58:21min) thanks to the help of Martina Carpi, Fiorenzo’s daughter, and Sugar. The recurring theme, principally high tempo folk with the fabulous orchestral arrangement and direction by Bruno Nicolai, reoccurs in different versions: sometimes slow and nostalgic, other times fast and wild. This motif alternates between a Renaissance atmosphere and that of a western. This is another unedited musical treasure which had almost been lost or forgotten until we found it again. 

Director and Cast: 

Directed in 1972 by Vittorio De Seta. Starring Bruno Cirino, Massimo Bonini, Luciano Del Croce, Romano Di Mascio, Giorgio Mennuni, Franco Munzi, Sergio Piazza, Fabrizio Ranuzzi, Renzo Sacco, Stefano Scafati, Marco Speranza, Remo Tamasco, Franco Tomasso, Giancarlo Valente, Marisa Fabbri, Tullio Altamura, Filippo De Gara, Mico Cundari

Plot:

A teacher has his first teaching experience in a run-down working-class suburb outside of Rome. The majority of students drop out so the teacher tries to find them and discovers the poor family situations they live in. He realizes traditional teaching methods don’t work on these students and so he creates a new program based on resolving the students’ social problems. The class becomes a group which organizes and self-finances itself. But these life lessons haven’t prepared the children for the exams and the school director forces him to give up his method during a tough meeting with him. The teacher returns home and goes through a period of crisis, but returns to the school in Rome. He realizes he has chosen the right path when the students welcome him back affectionately. 

Notes about film:

Diary of a Schoolteacher was adapted and shown in 4 episodes on RAI in February and March of 1973 (290 minutes running time). In 1975 it was re-adapted to 135 minutes to be shown at the cinema. The story was taken from the autobiography of Albino Bernardini “Un anno a Pietralata” (A year in Pietralata).