Evolution of Italian Comedy

Checco Zalone, the pseudonym of Luca Pasquale Medici, has succeeded in bringing Italians back to see comedy at the cinema with his latest film “Buen Camino,” released in theaters on December 25, 2025. The film managed to secure the second position in the overall ranking of the highest-grossing films in Italy, preceded only by the blockbuster “Avatar.” Zalone has managed to uproot political correctness from cinema, restoring meaning to the message—the final lesson that Italian comedy has always carried.

The history of the so-called “Commedia all’italiana” has deep roots and should not be considered a true genre in its own right. In fact, at the beginning of the 1950s, this trend encompassed the production of brilliant comedies with common themes such as social satire and bourgeois settings, which concealed an underlying bitterness hidden behind the comic content. This cinematic trend was a creation of Cinecittà, a complex of television and film studios in Rome. Indeed, initially, the comedies were primarily set in Rome, featuring Roman actors, or often Romans by adoption, such as Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni, or Nino Manfredi. Italian public life took place mainly in the capital, where Via Veneto still reigned supreme with its cafes frequented by artists, actors, intellectuals, and photographers. Among the Roman performers, we cannot forget Alberto Sordi, who through his “Roman-ness” best represented his home city, portraying characters that mirrored the situations and themes of the society of the time. In some cases, the themes brought forth by these films even sparked debate and scandal in Italian society, such as the film “Divorce Italian Style,” which dealt with the law regarding honor killings.

The most important initiators of this cinematic current were undoubtedly Aldo Fabrizi and Totò, two names that remain in the history of Italian cinema and are recognized abroad as well.

Aldo Fabrizi: The Soul of the Roman Character

Aldo Fabrizi debuted in the early 1930s as a “macchiettista” (a performer of comedic sketches) in the small theaters of Rome with the Reginella company. Here, he played caricatured roles of characteristic Roman figures, such as the tram driver, the ticket collector, or the fishmonger. In the 1940s, he began his film career by bringing those same theatrical characters to his movies and enriched his wealth of experience by participating in films like Roberto Rossellini’s “Rome, Open City,” where he played Don Morosini. From the 1950s onwards, Aldo Fabrizi’s film career grew exponentially, performing in nearly seventy other films while almost always maintaining that comic line halfway between the grumpy and the good-natured character. It was during this period that he came into contact with Totò, with whom he would make several comedies and form not only a professional relationship but also a human and personal one.

Totò: The Immortal Mask of the Prince of Laughter

Antonio De Curtis, the birth name of the artist Totò—a nickname given to him by his mother—was one of the most important Italian acting figures. Compared to stellar comic figures such as Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin, Totò was nicknamed the “Prince of Laughter” for his ability to be a “unicum” in Italian cinematic and comic history. Since childhood, Totò loved to portray roles, entertaining his classmates with small performances or telling jokes. He spent his days observing the most eccentric people to capture their characteristics, trying to imitate their movements so he could later bring them into his shows. Immediately after serving in the First World War, he resumed his dream of performing in theaters, and from there, his actual career as a “macchiettista” began. In 1930, the year of the advent of sound in Italy, Totò had the opportunity to come into contact with cinema by auditioning for a new comedy, “Il ladro disgraziato” (The Unfortunate Thief), but the film never saw the light of day.

From the post-World War II period onwards, the artist’s theatrical and cinematic career established itself, as he performed in more than seventeen films, including “Man, Beast and Virtue,” based on the comedy of the same name by Luigi Pirandello, who was a source of inspiration for Totò, and whose cast also included Orson Welles. At the peak of his career, shortly before his death, very important cinematic proposals arrived, from Federico Fellini to Pier Paolo Pasolini. Totò anticipated the “Commedia all’italiana” trend thanks to his collaboration with Peppino De Filippo, who became his traveling companion for many films. A few days before his death, Totò said he was convinced he would end his life in failure, perhaps unsatisfied with all the possibilities he could have taken through his theatrical career. He was also convinced that no one would remember him, while a great actor like Nino Manfredi announced on the news on April 15, 1967: “the last of the great masks of the Commedia dell’Arte has died.”

As we can see, the fortune of Italian Comedy has not yet run out; on the contrary, it grows, bringing with it themes and messages capable of always providing a lesson to the audience that fills the theaters and drives the great industry of Italian cinema forward.