On display are thirty original records – 33 and 45 rpm – from the private collection of historian Davide Bagnaresi. These include rare international editions that document the global reach of Fellini’s cinema: from La Strada and La Dolce Vita to 8½, alongside items of particular interest such as the American pressing of The Clowns.
The exhibition focuses on the creative dialogue with Nino Rota and, in the later years, with Nicola Piovani. It also highlights the extraordinary graphic quality of the record sleeves, whose visual designs reflect the visionary nature of Fellini's cinematography.
Furthermore, the exhibition features two precious 78 rpm records from 1938–1939, containing songs composed and performed during those years: I cinque Baeki’s and La cavalcata dei cinque, both written by Odoardo Spadaro.
While there is no definitive proof that the "Fellini" mentioned in the credits of these two discs is indeed the future director, several clues make it plausible: both recordings were produced by Cetra, the label of the EIAR for which Fellini also worked. Moreover, the motif of I cinque Baeki’s reappears, with partially modified lyrics, in the famous Barafonda theatre sequence featuring the three gravediggers in the film Roma.
