Zeffirelli Museum

 

Franco Zeffirelli, as a director and producer, was responsible for some of the most memorable and glorious moments in cinematic history, at least according to me.  One of his films, Brother Sun, Sister Moon, had a real impact on me when I was young.  It was the first film that delivered such extraordinary moments of silence and beauty unlike I had ever experienced.  And of course, his Romeo and Juliet and the casting of two relatively unknown teenagers, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, actually helped me understand the exquisite nuances of Shakespeare's use of the language.  It was elevated and elevating... and I was totally onboard!  My friends and I all wanted to look like Olivia Hussey.

Zeffirelli was born in the outskirts of Florence and the Florentines consider him one of their own.  He was the product of an illicit and fabulous affair between a fashion designer and a dealer in textiles.  Apparently, he is also remotely related to Leonardo da Vinci, as researchers have traced his roots back to one of Leonardo's siblings.

The exhibit is full of wonderful things: movie posters, sketches of costume design and the costumes themselves, photos, cases of awards, ephemera of all sorts, etc.  

So great, so fab!  And then there is a little cinema that showed sections of some of his famous films.  You sit and watch the gloriousness:

And then, if you can handle it, you find yourself in the Maria Callas room of Magnificent Splendor:

Brava!