«Solo la nostra ombra ci somiglia»: dal Castello d’Otranto al Segno del comando

Published

2024-05-11

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13138/2723-9020/3575

Authors

  • Massimo Scotti Università degli Studi di Messina

Abstract

If The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole (1764) inaugurated the Gothic fashion in
the novel, between the 18th and 19th centuries, two TV series brought the Mediterranean
Gothic back into vogue between the 1960s and 1970s. They are the French Belphégor ou
le fantôme du Louvre (1965) and the Italian Il segno del comando (1971), two television
masterpieces in which some ancient suggestions are confronted with a historical present
poor in myths and depth, all projected towards a ‘modern’ that flattens reality and erases
the charm of places where travellers’ memories have long preserved a past full of mysteries.