Rome honors one of Italy’s funniest actors-comedians, July 3rd, 2021.

Rome’s mayor Virginia Raggi honored one of Italy’s funniest actors-comedians, Paolo Villaggio, in the 50^th anniversary of his first novel “Fantozzi”.

Ugo Fantozzi was a character along the lines of Mr. Bean that was invented by Villaggio and which the actor himself portrayed in many movies.   On hand at Rome’s Campidoglio (City Hall) for the special occasion was mayor Raggi, Maura Villaggio, Paolo’s widow, and his children. 

Both mayor Raggi and Maura unveiled a special plaque which will be eventually placed in the area of Rome which was made famous in a scene taken from Fantozzi’s 1971 movie (a scene from that movie was shown at the ceremony). 

Raggi and the Villaggio family then gathered outdoors on City Hall’s famous square (which was designed by Michelangelo) around Fantozzi’s famous small car which was in many of his movies.