The Creation of an Italian Star in Diaspora

Luciano Albertini’s early career in Germany (1921-1923)

Abstract

ITA

Questo articolo investiga la carriera tedesca degli anni Venti del ‘forzuto’ italiano Francesco Vespignani, in arte Luciano Albertini (1882-1945), e cerca di analizzare e contestualizzare la tipologia dell’Albertini tedesco. La ricerca si basa sulla visione di molte pellicole cinematografiche, anche nitrati non ancora conservate, in vari archivi europei, e su varie fonti scritte, in particolare la rivista cinematografica “Film-Kurier”. Intrinsecamente, mira anche ad espandere e in parte adattare la precedente storiografia sui ‘forzuti’ italiani.

ENG

This article explores the German career during the 1920s of the Italian ‘muscleman’ Francesco Vespignani, aka Luciano Albertini (1882-1945), and seeks to analyze and contextualize the typology of the German Albertini. The research is based on the viewing of many motion pictures – including unpreserved nitrates – in various European archives, and on diverse written sources, most notably the film journal “Film-Kurier”. Intrinsically, it also aims to expand and partly adjust the previous historiography about the Italian ‘musclemen’.