Fortunella 1958

Fortunella is a poor girl living in Rome’s bustling district of second-hand dealers, where she becomes the lover of Peppino. To save him, she takes responsibility for a crime of receiving stolen goods that he committed, and she ends up in prison. When she is released, she discovers that Peppino now lives with another woman, Amelia, and a sharp, painful scene pushes her to walk away from the treacherous man.

In the twists and turns of her life, Fortunella clings to a powerful illusion that keeps her going: she is convinced she is the illegitimate daughter of Principe Guidobaldi, whose palace sits right in her neighborhood. She recalls being picked up by the prince as a child, a memory that fuels a fantastical self-story and a longing for a family she never had. This dream becomes her lifeline, a private myth that shapes every choice she makes.

One day she encounters a wandering professor, Golfiero Paganica, who listens to her tale and offers help. He joins with Fortunella to form part of a traveling company of actors who perform under a big tent on the banks of the Tiber. The troupe is led by the capocomico, a figure of authority in the company, played by the celebrated performer in the cast. Yet Golfiero’s lack of restraint sets off a chain of accidents that ruin the performances and test the limits of Fortunella’s resilience.

Fortunella reunites with Peppino, but the happiness is short-lived: soon she learns that Golfiero has been hospitalized, and the vagabond professor dies, leaving her a dilapidated chalet as his inheritance. The news arrives just as the fragile peace with Peppino cracks, and Principe Guidobaldi, acting as Golfiero’s executor, summons Fortunella to the palace. She gathers her courage to tell the truth of her past, yet the prince reveals a crucial fact: during the period in question, he was in India, far from the life she imagined.

The revelation leaves her disappointed and embittered, but it does not break her will. Rather than return to Peppino, she resolves to stay with the actors and to perform on stage the very princess role she had dreamt of, turning her long-held illusion into a powerful artistic identity. Fortunella chooses a path where art becomes solace, and where the theater becomes the arena in which a life once built on fantasy can find real meaning.