Alberto Sordi’s Rome mansion to become a museum.
Alberto Sordi was one of Italy’s greatest actors and comedians, many of whose iconic roles have passed into posterity as testimony to the problems and conquests of postwar Italy and, even more particularly, as commentaries on the character of 20th century Romans.
Sordi,, who never married and had no children, died in 2003 at the age of 83 and left his enormous villa overlooking the Circus Maximus to his sister Aurelia. When she died at 97 in 2014 she left a will according to which the house was to be turned into a museum run by the two foundations that bear his name. According to press reports, the museum will probably be opened a couple of years from now and I, for one, will be most curious to see it.
The villa, which once belonged to a Fascist official, Dino Grandi, was transformed by Sordi into a veritable mansion with a swimming pool in the back, a private movie theatre, and rooms filled with memorabilia and antiques.
He appeared in 140 films, including his masterpieces roles in, “Un Americano a Roma”, “Un borghese piccolo, piccolo”, “Nell’anno del Signore”, “Il Marchese del Grillo” and “La Grande Guerra”.
