The state it’s in: Fellini’s Fulgor |

Remember how Gradisca in Federico Fellini's Amarcord stopped in front of the Fulgor Cinema (recreated in Cinecittà – spot it in the trailer at the end of this post) and, faking a posh accent asked the owner, "When is the Gary Cooper film on?".

The Fulgor cinema is still in the same spot in Rimini, where Fellini was born on 20th January 1920, and you can find it by walking halfway down the same street Gradisca walked along in Amarcord up to Corso d'Augusto 152. Nearby you will find Piazza Cavour and the Fontana della Pigna where the schoolboys threw snowballs.

As a young schoolboy at the local grammar school, Fellini used to spend long afternoons watching films at the Fulgor, nurturing here his passion for cinema.

The Fulgor is also mentioned in Fellini's Roma and, as you can see from these pics, it's in a rather bad state at the moment.

There is actually a project to restore the cinema and turn it into the new building for the Fondazione Fellini (Fellini Foundation).

According to this project the ground floor will include the main cinema theatre and the foyer will be turned into an exhibition hall showcasing posters, drawings, costumes and assorted memorabilia, while the first floor will include a smaller cinema theatre, the Fellini archive and office spaces.

Production designer and set decorator Dante Ferretti was very aptly chosen to redesign the new façade and the interiors for the Fulgor, but the restoration works – scheduled to start at the beginning of 2009 – still haven't begun as you can see from the photographs. I wonder what Fellini would have thought if he had seen his beloved Fulgor in this state.