Show of the Week: Elsa Morante’s La Storia

La Storia

Italian author Elsa Morante’s best-selling novel La Storia comes to the screen in this 8 x 60-minute drama set during the latter years of the Second World War.

The story follows Ida Ramundo, the widowed mother of 15-year-old teenager Nino, living in Rome during the conflict.

The novel, previously adapted as a feature film in 1986, was a best-seller upon its release in 1974. For Roberto Sessa, the chief exec of series producer Picomedia, bringing the book back to the screen held a special significance.

He reveals: “La Storia has been the novel that formed my life as young man. It was a dream being able to convince Morante’s family to make a television adaptation.”

Ida has a dangerous secret – she is of Jewish descent, and when she is assaulted by a German army soldier, things turn from bad to worse. In pain, dismay, and ashamed, Ida discovers she is pregnant, and, nine months later, secretly gives birth to another boy, who will be lovingly nicknamed Useppe.

The family is further shaken by the events of the war: Nino decides to leave for the front to fight the fascists, leaving his mother and little Useppe in an apartment in Rome‘s San Lorenzo neighbourhood to cope with the Nazi occupation and roundups.

“Ida’s eyes are the point of view of how difficult and challenging were those days in Rome,” shares Sessa, who adds: “Love, friendship, family and hope are in my opinion the most important themes of this series.”

In recreating wartime Rome, “we wanted to be as realistic as possible,” says Sessa, explaining: “That’s why we decided to avoid studios, and we went on the streets of Rome, trying to recreate the atmosphere of those days.”

Producer: Picomedia & Thalie Images, in collaboration with Rai Fiction and in co-production with Beta Film
Distributor: Beta Film
Broadcaster: Rai 1 (Italy)
Logline: Ida, a single mother of two sons, hides her Jewish heritage and fights against poverty and persecution in Rome during the end of the Second World War