Among the documentaries presented during the last Venice Film Festival, there is one that already from its title brings out very intense feelings of identity and patriotic passions: it is Vola Colomba (Dove Fly), like the song of the same name performed by Nilla Pizzi and triumphant in 1952 at the Sanremo festival. It is not just a melancholic love song, but a hymn to Trieste, whose destiny at that time was still dramatically uncertain.
And it is precisely to the Julian capital, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary, 26 October 2024, of its definitive return to Italy, that the docufilm Vola Colomba (here is the trailer: TRAILER “VOLA COLOMBA, Trieste 1954” youtube.com), produced by Venicefilm in collaboration with RAI documentaries, is dedicated. For “this anniversary,” reads the website of the production company, known for having made films such as Red Land. Rosso Istria, which tells the story of Norma Cossetto – the documentary retraces the long and tortuous path of the reunification of Trieste with the motherland, focusing not only on the historical aspects of the event, but above all on the cultural and social aspects that strongly influenced the evolution of the customs of Trieste in those years. Above all, the presence of the Anglo-Americans, who administered the city for a good nine years (from 1945 to 1954), after the horrors experienced by the people of Trieste during the 40 days of the Titina occupation’.
The viewer is accompanied on this journey through homeland history by an exceptional testimonial, journalist Toni Capuozzo, who recounts life at that time not only from the point of view of the events, but also referring to Italian and Triestine culture after World War II. Together with him are historian Paolo Mieli, Bruno Pizzul and Istrian exile Italia Giacca.
Based on an idea by Alessandro Centenaro and directed by Renzo Carbonera, the documentary was made with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the National Association of Venezia Giulia and Dalmatia, the Multimedia Documentation Centre, the Municipality of Trieste, and the Friuli Venezia Giulia Film Commission. During the presentation in Venice, as reported by Ansa, the director of RAI Documentaries Fabrizio Zappi stressed that for RAI “it is important that Italians have the chance to understand what we have become” and this is “the highest function that public service radio and television can perform”. The documentary will soon be broadcast on Rai 3 in the late evening.
