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21 April1940
'Fascist wings over the world'
Author
Fratelli Chierici
Format
8mm
Credits
Music by Guglielmo Pagnozzi

"On Sunday I'm going to Milan to the trade fair.... it's almost a necessary thing nowadays to go to the fair, you have to be up to date with everything that's going on around you. So I'm going to give you a little programme that could go very well..." These sentences written by Enrico Chierici to his fiancée Clara convinced her to go to Milan on 21 April 1940 for the Fiera Campionaria. The 'little programme' really promised 'very well': departure by train at 7:01 a.m. from Genoa, arrival in Milan at 9:20 a.m., breakfast at the Motta, Mass at the Duomo and arrival by tram at the fair at 11:00 a.m. Return train at 20:10. A day at the Fair then, with Clara and Enrico's brothers, Edo and Paolo, and a friend and his girlfriend. And with the 8mm camera and two black and white films that make up this film, the first Agfa and then Gevaert. "Fascist wings over the world": The filming of the fair opens on this large sign dominating the pavilion dedicated to the launch of Italian civil aviation and in particular of Avio Linee Italiane, the airline created by FIAT. The scenography created by architect Scoccimarro places a FIAT G 18 V aeroplane at the centre, which visitors can access from a curved walkway. More up-to-date than this Enrico and his camera cannot be. But the filming does not stop there. There are many industries present, including the company where Enrico works, S.A.L.E.M. (Società Anonima Leghe e Metalli), on whose pavilion stands out 'Ferro-Vanadio-Titanio-Tungsteno,.. per l'autarchia'. Enrico films so many names and brands, from Ambrosoli to Italviscosa, as well as the moments of pause at the fountain and the café, the inevitable visit to the Photo-Cine Optics Section, the visitors and the girls working at the fair. But it is those 'fascist wings' that still attract him and the new transcontinental routes, for truly dreamlike journeys. Peaceful wings indeed, soon there will be war wings... On the very same day that Enrico Chierici films the Milan Fair, Mussolini in Rome secretly harangues his comrades: Italy's entry into the war is imminent.

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