Elso Valentini(1918-1998)

Elso Valentini was born in San Marino (sm). He was a set decorator and writer, known for The Enemy General (1960) (1960), The Queen of Babylon (1954) (1954) and Roman Holiday (1953) (1953). He was previously married to Teresa Rea. He died on January 7, 1998 (age 79). Son of the citizens of San Marino (sm), he attended Julius Cesar Classical High Rimini School with Federico Fellini. He entered the world of cinema in 1942 working in the film, The Children Are Watching Us (1943) directed by Vittorio De Sica. Subsequently, he began his collaboration with Scalera film production of, the largest film production house of that time. During the period of the fascist regime he worked as a dresser set until 1943 on various set, including Men of the Mountain (1943) with Amedeo Nazzari. In 1945, in the aftermath of the Liberation, he returned to Rome to resume his work in the cinematographic sector with Unknown Men of San Marino (1948) directed by Michal Waszynski, with Vittorio De Sica and Anna Magnani. A movie dedicated to the Republic of San Marino for having hosted 110,000 Italians for six months during the bombardment caused by the clash of forces on the German defense line, the Gothic Line. With the end of the hostility of the war, Italy becomes a flourishing ground for international film productions. The name of Hollywood sul Tevere (2009) will be given to that historical period of cinematography. His first international film will be: Black Magic (1949). Elso Valentini was hired by many American's cinematographic studios, working as a set dresser for some of the most famous films of all time, including Beat the Devil (1953) directed by John Huston. He was producer, screenwriter and actor of Tierra mágica (1959), the first documentary film on the Amazon Venezuela forest, appointed films for the Berlin Festival of 1959. His last commitment in the world of cinema was with The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Story (1951) for the creation of Ben-Hur (1959) directed by William Wyler. After two months of production he will have to abandon the set for family reasons. He returned to the country of his roots, the Republic of San Marino (sm), was remained until his death.