Rebellious yet disciplined; traditional yet irreverent: the Carracci revolutionised painting and changed the course of art history. This film departs from the usual model both in subject and style: rather than asking viewers to absorb the art historical consensus on Italian painting, it invites them to discover something new; and it is full of unexpected treasures to entice the eye and provoke the mind.

Marco Riccòmini, an art advisor of international fame, shares his knowledge in a search for the key to understanding and appreciating the lives, the works – and the magic – of the brothers Agostino and Annibale Carracci, and their cousin Ludovico Carracci, who were working together at the end of sixteenth century. Here for the first time the legend of the Carracci – well known to art historians but less familiar to the general public – is told on the screen.

In unconventional style, director Giulia Giapponesi follows Riccòmini through galleries right across the Western world on a journey of encounters, revelations and mysteries, and a lot of hard looking. It is this looking that will arouse wonder in everyone, from the scholars and aficionados to the most unsuspecting of observers.

Directed by Giulia Giapponesi

Written by Giulia Giapponesi, Marco Riccòmini

Narrated by Marco Riccòmini

With:
Keith Christiansen
Nancy Edwards
David Ekserdjiean
Silvia Evangelisti
Catherine Loisell
Leonardo Piccinini
Massimo Pulini
Eugenio Riccòmini
Marco Riccòmini
Pierre Rosenberg
Francis Russell
Jacqueline Thallman

Music and performance by
The Trouble Notes

Executive producers:
Giulia Giapponesi
Marco Riccòmini
Anna Scandola

Cinematography by
Salvatore Lucchese

Edited by
Paolo Marzoni
Giulia Giapponesi

Sound design:
Jan Maio

Visuals by
Carmen Sciortino

With the support of:

Emilia-Romagna Film Commission

Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna

UniCredit

Translated by
Jacob Willer