Fantastic event in Florence for all the ones who watched and loved Amici miei (My Friends) a 1975 Italian movie directed by Mario Monicelli. The film is a bitter-sweet comedy-drama telling the story of a group of friends living in Florence.

On 6 June 2010 it was organized the remake of a scene of this movie in Santo Spirito square, the same place where it was filmed the original. The shooting involved the scene of the funeral of Giorgio Perozzi, the journalist interpreted by French actor Philippe Noiret.

Images from the remake of the funeral, Amici miei l'ultima zingarata (Florence, 6 June  2010)

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In the movie the friends of the deceased would have liked to have a great funeral with “thousands of people, a band, military and whores”, but in reality it turned out to be a small and silent ceremony with few people.

This June's event was organized by a group of friends who wanted to recreate the spirit of camaraderie and the love for laughs that animates the original movie. So they organized  the remake of the funeral scene in the way that the Amici miei wanted to be, with a band, militaries, whores and thousands of people. In addition, members of a circus, followers of Hare Krishna and other weird characters joined the ceremony.

On a sunny Sunday of June, hundreds of black-dressed people gathered in Piazza Santo Spirito to make the video and hundreds more enjoyed seeing the event. One of Romaround’s editor was lucky to be present (and took the photos you see here).

It was a fun event where the supposed sadness of the (fake) funeral was transformed in laughter and enjoyment by the participating crowd. But the really great thing was to re-discover the true Florentine ironic spirit, the sense of community of the people of the Oltrarno neighborhood, and the feeling of participation of all the ones who loved a great movie of the past.

On September 3rd the video that was filmed in the occasion will be presented to the Venice Film festival. The official title is “Amici miei, l’ultima zingarata” (My friends, the last joke), produced by Francesco Conforti and directed by Federico Micali.

The original funeral scene from the movie Amici miei (Florence, winter 1974)