{ "id": "ep8ngtnyxy", "slug": "the-garden-of-the-finzi-continis", "title": "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics", "label": "Historical dramas and epics", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-symbols-to-l", "label": "Titles symbols to L", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-symbols-to-l" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-symbols-to-l.alpha-en-to-l", "label": "Titles En to L", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-symbols-to-l.alpha-en-to-l" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000: War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini): 1970 Vittorio De Sica film adapted from Giorgio Bassani's 1962 novel about a wealthy Jewish family in Ferrara under fascist racial laws; Golden Bear 1971, Oscar Best Foreign Language Film 1972.", "snippet": "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini): 1970 Vittorio De Sica film adapted from Giorgio Bassani's 1962 novel about a wealthy Jewish family in Ferrara under fascist racial laws; Golden Bear 1971, Oscar Best Foreign Language Film 1972.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-symbols-to-l.alpha-en-to-l", "markdown": "# The Garden of the Finzi-Continis\n\n**The Garden of the Finzi-Continis** (*Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini*) is a 1970 Italian-West German drama directed by [Vittorio De Sica](https://www.edgepedia.org/vittorio-de-sica), adapted from [Giorgio Bassani](https://www.edgepedia.org/giorgio-bassani)'s 1962 novel of the same title. Set in Ferrara in the late 1930s, it follows a wealthy Jewish family whose walled estate becomes a refuge for young friends as fascist Italy's racial laws close in, ending with the family's deportation in 1943. The film won the [Golden Bear](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-bear) at the Berlin Film Festival in 1971 and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1972.[1](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/garden-of-the-finzi-continis/) • [2](https://www.jmberlin.de/en/garden-finzi-continis-1970)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Source novel | *Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini* by Giorgio Bassani, published in 1962 by Giulio Einaudi Editore; it won the Viareggio Prize that year[3](https://www.inferrara.it/static/0d/8e/89/0d78e989b1bf11831cee637eed0512c2f7397eff8ed4109d1bbac849e589bba7.pdf) |\n| Film | Italy / West Germany, 1970, directed by Vittorio De Sica, 94 minutes, Italian language[1](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/garden-of-the-finzi-continis/) |\n| Principal cast | Lino Capolicchio (Giorgio), Dominique Sanda (Micòl Finzi-Contini), Helmut Berger (Alberto), Fabio Testi (Malnate), Romolo Valli (Giorgio's father)[4](https://tv.apple.com/it/movie/il-giardino-dei-finzi-contini/umc.cmc.64bq6o0skhjzopyhbxe3i4tv1) |\n| Screenplay | Ugo Pirro and Vittorio Bonicelli, after Bassani's novel; Bassani later had his name removed from the screenwriter credits[3](https://www.inferrara.it/static/0d/8e/89/0d78e989b1bf11831cee637eed0512c2f7397eff8ed4109d1bbac849e589bba7.pdf) |\n| Major awards | Golden Bear, Berlin Film Festival 1971; Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film 1972[2](https://www.jmberlin.de/en/garden-finzi-continis-1970) |\n| Historical backdrop | In the autumn of 1943, 183 members of Ferrara's Jewish community were rounded up and deported to concentration camps in Germany; only one returned[5](https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2005/07/14/on-the-garden-of-the-finzi-continis/) |\n| Restoration | Released in cinemas in a 4K restored version on January 27, 2025, for Holocaust Remembrance Day[6](https://www.minervapictures.com/the-garden-of-the-finzi-continis-returns-to-cinemas-vittorio-de-sicas-masterpiece-restored-in-4k-for-holocaust-remembrance-day/?lang=en) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story and setting\n\nThe Finzi-Contini are a rich, aristocratic Jewish family of Ferrara who, like the city's other Jews, are excluded from the tennis club and social life of the town under the racial laws. They open the gates of their villa and its immense walled garden to a small circle of young friends, including the siblings Alberto and Micòl, the narrator Giorgio from a more modest Jewish merchant family, and the Milanese communist Giampiero Malnate.[9](https://www.comingsoon.it/film/il-giardino-dei-finzi-contini/9824/scheda/) • [10](https://www.thespacecinema.it/-/media/the-space-cinema/iniziative/matinee-per-le-scuole/schede-didattiche/scheda-didattica_il-giardino-dei-finzi-contini.pdf?rev=6c20d8f19ccd4805966c87f366e73814)\n\nWithin the garden the story centers on Giorgio's unrequited love for Micòl, an enigmatic figure he has admired since childhood; when he finally resolves to declare himself, on returning from a trip to France, it is too late.[9](https://www.comingsoon.it/film/il-giardino-dei-finzi-contini/9824/scheda/) The garden functions as a sheltered world in which tennis and parties continue while fascist politics tighten around the family, and the idyll is shattered when, in 1943, the family is deported.[2](https://www.jmberlin.de/en/garden-finzi-continis-1970) The film spans the years 1938 to 1943.[6](https://www.minervapictures.com/the-garden-of-the-finzi-continis-returns-to-cinemas-vittorio-de-sicas-masterpiece-restored-in-4k-for-holocaust-remembrance-day/?lang=en)\n\n## The novel\n\nGiorgio Bassani published *Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini* in 1962 with the Turin publisher Giulio Einaudi Editore, and the book won the [Viareggio Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/viareggio-prize) in the same year. This was not the definitive text: Bassani revised the novel for its incorporation into *The Novel of Ferrara* (*Romanzo di Ferrara*), and made further modifications for editions in 1976 and 1980.[3](https://www.inferrara.it/static/0d/8e/89/0d78e989b1bf11831cee637eed0512c2f7397eff8ed4109d1bbac849e589bba7.pdf)\n\nThe work carries autobiographical traces. Bassani grew up in the Jewish community of Ferrara, and the novel draws on flashbacks, reminiscences, and memories of that community from 1938 onward, the year Italy's fascist government introduced the racial laws.[7](https://www.benthamscience.com/public/chapter/20815) The narrative frame opens in 1957, when the narrator recalls the family he knew in his youth at their house on Corso Ercole I d'Este in Ferrara, shortly before the war.[8](https://www.utemilano.it/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IL-GIARDINO-DEI-FINZI-CONTINI_-di-Giorgio-Bassani.Un-triste-capitolo-della-nostra-storia-patria.pdf) A Ferrarese source identifies a real-world model for the story: Silvio Magrini, a member of the city's Jewish upper bourgeoisie whose family, living in a house closely resembling the one described in the novel, shared the fate of deportation to the Nazi camps.[8](https://www.utemilano.it/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IL-GIARDINO-DEI-FINZI-CONTINI_-di-Giorgio-Bassani.Un-triste-capitolo-della-nostra-storia-patria.pdf)\n\nThe historical premise is documented. In the autumn of 1943, after the German occupation of northern Italy, 183 members of Ferrara's Jewish community were rounded up, imprisoned, and deported to concentration camps in Germany; only one returned. Bassani was twenty-seven at the time, and his own father was among those deported.[5](https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2005/07/14/on-the-garden-of-the-finzi-continis/) The critic Tim Parks, a novelist and essayist who has written extensively on Italian literature, observes that the Holocaust as such is never the direct subject of Bassani's fiction; his aim is to have life emerge within the particular circumstances of Ferrara in the years of his adolescence and early adulthood.[5](https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2005/07/14/on-the-garden-of-the-finzi-continis/)\n\n## From novel to film\n\nThe rights to the novel were bought by Documento Film one year after publication, and production was first entrusted to Valerio Zurlini, who was also to prepare the screenplay; when the completed script reached Bassani, he found it far from the spirit of the novel and the project was abandoned. Bassani was then asked to write the screenplay himself, with the collaboration of Vittorio Bonicelli, on two conditions: that the script be returned to him for final corrections after revision by the screenwriter Ugo Pirro, and that black-and-white film inserts depict the capture of the Jews of Ferrara in November 1943. Neither happened: Pirro's revision upset Bassani's narrative plan and the inserts were dropped.[11](https://www.apgads.lu.lv/fileadmin/user_upload/lu_portal/apgads/PDF/LINCS-2020/lincs.2020.06.pdf)\n\nDe Sica, approached by producer Fausto Saraceni in 1968, was reportedly surprised to be offered the adaptation, thinking it better suited to a director such as [Luchino Visconti](https://www.edgepedia.org/luchino-visconti) or Mauro Bolognini, whose large-scale period films about the haute bourgeoisie differed from his own filmography; he accepted despite limited funding. The finished film's style and tone are considered closer to Visconti's late work than to De Sica's earlier productions.[12](https://www.ledonline.it/ledonline/510-giorgio-bassani/510-poscritto-Healy.pdf)\n\nThe dispute with the author ended in the credits. Bassani, judging that the film had betrayed his novel in substance and spirit, took legal action in 1970 to have his name removed from the list of screenwriters, and won the case.[3](https://www.inferrara.it/static/0d/8e/89/0d78e989b1bf11831cee637eed0512c2f7397eff8ed4109d1bbac849e589bba7.pdf) Film Lincoln Center notes that De Sica's changes to the source novel led to this friction, in which Bassani demanded his name be removed from the opening credits.[1](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/garden-of-the-finzi-continis/) Bassani later described the intended film as a \"fresco of the Jewish tragedy in toto\" in an essay titled \"The Betrayed Garden\" (*Der verratene Garten*).[2](https://www.jmberlin.de/en/garden-finzi-continis-1970)\n\n## Production\n\nThe film was produced by Gianni Hecht Lucari and Arthur Cohn for Documento Film of Rome and CCC Filmkunst of Berlin, with Artur Brauner among the producers.[13](https://www.museoferrara.it/view/s/b48d7a75ef204d77814c206f62e886a4) • [4](https://tv.apple.com/it/movie/il-giardino-dei-finzi-contini/umc.cmc.64bq6o0skhjzopyhbxe3i4tv1) Ennio Guarnieri was the cinematographer, Adriana Novelli the editor, and Manuel De Sica, the director's son, composed the score; Giancarlo Bartolini Salimbeni designed the sets and costumes.[13](https://www.museoferrara.it/view/s/b48d7a75ef204d77814c206f62e886a4) • [10](https://www.thespacecinema.it/-/media/the-space-cinema/iniziative/matinee-per-le-scuole/schede-didattiche/scheda-didattica_il-giardino-dei-finzi-contini.pdf?rev=6c20d8f19ccd4805966c87f366e73814)\n\nAlthough set in Ferrara, the garden was assembled from several locations: Villa Ada near Rome, the Parco di Monza, and the Orto botanico, with Villa Litta Bolognini in Vedano al Lambro near Monza standing in for the Finzi-Contini villa; the garden gate was filmed in Ferrara on Corso Ercole I d'Este, and the city itself supplied further settings, including the Castello Estense and the Palazzo dei Diamanti.[13](https://www.museoferrara.it/view/s/b48d7a75ef204d77814c206f62e886a4)\n\n## Reception and awards\n\nThe film won the Golden Bear at the 21st [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival) in 1971 and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1972.[2](https://www.jmberlin.de/en/garden-finzi-continis-1970) • [14](https://www.cinefiliaritrovata.it/il-giardino-dei-finzi-contini-come-romanzo-di-formazione-tra-critica-storica-e-flou/) In Italy it received two David di [Donatello](https://www.edgepedia.org/donatello) awards, for Best Film to De Sica and a special David to Lino Capolicchio, and two Nastri d'argento, for Romolo Valli as best supporting actor and for Giancarlo Bartolini Salimbeni's set design.[10](https://www.thespacecinema.it/-/media/the-space-cinema/iniziative/matinee-per-le-scuole/schede-didattiche/scheda-didattica_il-giardino-dei-finzi-contini.pdf?rev=6c20d8f19ccd4805966c87f366e73814) On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 94% Tomatometer score from 16 reviews and a 77% audience score from more than 1,000 ratings.[15](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_garden_of_the_finzi_continis)\n\nCritical judgment has been divided along national lines. Italian critics at the time and since have pointed to weaknesses, particularly a thin plot; Morando Morandini, writing in *Il Messaggero*, called the portrayal overly sentimental and historically superficial, while Tullio Kezich of *Corriere della Sera* ranked it among the director's best works in years.[6](https://www.minervapictures.com/the-garden-of-the-finzi-continis-returns-to-cinemas-vittorio-de-sicas-masterpiece-restored-in-4k-for-holocaust-remembrance-day/?lang=en) Abroad the film received considerable critical treatment, and TIME's 1972 review called it a requiem for the passing of a social order, good enough to stand comparison with De Sica's neorealist classics *The Bicycle Thief* and *Umberto D.*[16](https://time.com/archive/6815359/cinema-requiem/) The film scholar Stephen Healy notes that the film, unlike Bassani's narrative, explicitly represents circumstances leading up to the 1943 deportation and culminates with the family's arrest, yet is often read as a romantic melodrama rather than historical drama.[12](https://www.ledonline.it/ledonline/510-giorgio-bassani/510-poscritto-Healy.pdf)\n\n## Later history\n\nThe film has been restored twice in the digital era. A restoration was presented at the [Auditorium](https://www.edgepedia.org/auditorium) del Parco della Musica in Rome in May 2015,[13](https://www.museoferrara.it/view/s/b48d7a75ef204d77814c206f62e886a4) and a 4K DCP restoration by [Cinecittà](https://www.edgepedia.org/cinecitta), supported by Anthony Morato, was released by Filmclub Distribuzione (Minerva Pictures) to Italian cinemas on January 27, 2025, for Holocaust Remembrance Day.[1](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/garden-of-the-finzi-continis/) • [6](https://www.minervapictures.com/the-garden-of-the-finzi-continis-returns-to-cinemas-vittorio-de-sicas-masterpiece-restored-in-4k-for-holocaust-remembrance-day/?lang=en) A further 4K restoration, undertaken at Omnimago from a scan of the original Italian negative supplemented by material from German television archives, was scheduled for screening at the Deutsche Kinemathek's Film Restored festival in 2026.[17](https://www.deutsche-kinemathek.de/en/visit/program/film-restored/il-giardino-dei-finzi-contini) The story has also returned to the stage: an opera by the composer Ricky Ian Gordon and the librettist Michael Korie, produced by the New York City Opera and the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, adapts the novel for Ferrara between 1937 and 1943.[18](https://reformjudaism.org/blog/garden-finzi-continis)\n\n## References\n\n1. [The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, Film Lincoln Center](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/garden-of-the-finzi-continis/)\n2. [The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970), Jewish Museum Berlin](https://www.jmberlin.de/en/garden-finzi-continis-1970)\n3. [The Garden of the Finzi-Continis: from book to film, inFerrara](https://www.inferrara.it/static/0d/8e/89/0d78e989b1bf11831cee637eed0512c2f7397eff8ed4109d1bbac849e589bba7.pdf)\n4. [Il giardino dei Finzi Contini, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/it/movie/il-giardino-dei-finzi-contini/umc.cmc.64bq6o0skhjzopyhbxe3i4tv1)\n5. [Tim Parks, \"On 'The Garden of the Finzi-Continis'\", The New York Review of Books, July 14, 2005](https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2005/07/14/on-the-garden-of-the-finzi-continis/)\n6. [The Garden of the Finzi-Continis Returns to Cinemas Restored in 4K, Minerva Pictures](https://www.minervapictures.com/the-garden-of-the-finzi-continis-returns-to-cinemas-vittorio-de-sicas-masterpiece-restored-in-4k-for-holocaust-remembrance-day/?lang=en)\n7. [The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, chapter, Bentham Science](https://www.benthamscience.com/public/chapter/20815)\n8. [Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini di Giorgio Bassani, UTEMilano](https://www.utemilano.it/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IL-GIARDINO-DEI-FINZI-CONTINI_-di-Giorgio-Bassani.Un-triste-capitolo-della-nostra-storia-patria.pdf)\n9. [Il giardino dei Finzi Contini (1970), Comingsoon.it](https://www.comingsoon.it/film/il-giardino-dei-finzi-contini/9824/scheda/)\n10. [Scheda didattica: Il giardino dei Finzi Contini, The Space Cinema](https://www.thespacecinema.it/-/media/the-space-cinema/iniziative/matinee-per-le-scuole/schede-didattiche/scheda-didattica_il-giardino-dei-finzi-contini.pdf?rev=6c20d8f19ccd4805966c87f366e73814)\n11. [Simona Messina, \"From the Novel to the Film: An Exemplary Case: The Garden of the Finzi-Continis by Giorgio Bassani\", LINCS Vol. 3, 2020](https://www.apgads.lu.lv/fileadmin/user_upload/lu_portal/apgads/PDF/LINCS-2020/lincs.2020.06.pdf)\n12. [Stephen Healy, \"Vittorio De Sica in The Garden of the Finzi-Continis: Notes from an American Classroom\"](https://www.ledonline.it/ledonline/510-giorgio-bassani/510-poscritto-Healy.pdf)\n13. [Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini, MuseoFerrara](https://www.museoferrara.it/view/s/b48d7a75ef204d77814c206f62e886a4)\n14. [Il giardino dei Finzi Contini come romanzo di formazione, Cinefilia Ritrovata](https://www.cinefiliaritrovata.it/il-giardino-dei-finzi-contini-come-romanzo-di-formazione-tra-critica-storica-e-flou/)\n15. [The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_garden_of_the_finzi_continis)\n16. [\"Cinema: Requiem\", TIME, January 17, 1972](https://time.com/archive/6815359/cinema-requiem/)\n17. [Il giardino dei Finzi Contini, Deutsche Kinemathek, Film Restored](https://www.deutsche-kinemathek.de/en/visit/program/film-restored/il-giardino-dei-finzi-contini)\n18. [The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, Reform Judaism](https://reformjudaism.org/blog/garden-finzi-continis)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › War and historical films (individual works) › Historical dramas and epics › Titles symbols to L › Titles En to L*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-garden-of-the-finzi-continis", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-garden-of-the-finzi-continis.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The Garden of the Finzi-Continis\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-garden-of-the-finzi-continis. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Garden of the Finzi-Continis](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-garden-of-the-finzi-continis)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-garden-of-the-finzi-continis](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-garden-of-the-finzi-continis). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Garden of the Finzi-Continis\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-garden-of-the-finzi-continis. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis: 1970 Vittorio De Sica film adapted from Giorgio Bassani's 1962 novel about a wealthy Jewish family in Ferrara under fascist racial laws; Golden Bear 1971, Oscar Best Foreign Language Film 1972." }