close
shape
Almanac
shape
Small format stories
shape
Team and contacts
close
09 March1952
Robby
Author
Enrico Chierici
Format
16mm
Credits
Music by Guglielmo Pagnozzi

Genoa, 9 March 1952: it is an important and memorable date, that of the first bath for Enrico Chierici's third child. While mother Clara works with sponge and soap, father holds the camera. 

The official date of birth, 1 March 1952, is a bit of a mystery: friends, neighbours, claimed that the exact birth, having taken place in the evening, close to midnight, was on Friday 29 February, but as often happens in these cases, in order to make sure that every year had a birthday, the little guy was declared to have come into the world on Saturday 1 March. And the little one, unlike his brothers, was called by one and the same name and not by a double name, Roberto. Soon his nickname was not "Pippotto" as his paternal grandfather wrote on all the film cans, but "Robby", which rhymes with "Zotty", his beloved teddy bear.

With the baby bath Robby becomes filmable, but it cannot be said that Enrico is the typical father who bought a camera to celebrate the birth of his children, as many do, coming from a family, the Chierici, where images have long been at home and cinema and photography are the bread and butter of his life, for both personal and professional reasons.

Share