I carbonari belongs to the group of FAI films focused on revisiting national history. In this case, the period in question is the Risorgimento. While the plot is fictionalized, it is based on a real event: the conspiracy against the Pope in 1832, which concluded in execution of the Carbonari on September 20. Bertini and Lepanto are once again cast opposite one another, competing for officer Stellati. Giovanni Pezzinga worked for FAI during the two years from 1911-1912, acting in a number of parts, often alongside Bertini. The film was distributed widely throughout Europe, meeting with marked success. The print – restored in 1996 from an original nitrate negative held at the Cinémathèque Française – is being shown in a new version, embellished with tinting and toning. In light of new information regarding the original coloring, it was possible to offer a non black and white version. The color information comes from the original, unassembled negative found in the French archives. The negative was in the form of small reels, each of which corresponded to one shot. Each reel was marked with an «identification leader» indicating: the name of the film (in French); the number of the corresponding shot (or shots); sometimes a code regarding the tinting and/or toning; the length of the reel. Deciphering of the codes (by Nicola Mazzanti, director of the laboratory L’Immagine Ritrovata) made it possible to return the print to its original color.The intertitles, missing from the negative, were reconstructed thanks to an original script of the film in French, held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

Alessia Navantieri, Michele Canosa