Nostalgia and landscape blend in Delpero's award-winning 'Vermiglio'

A scene from "Vermiglio" (Photo: Cinecittà)

Inspired by childhood nostalgia and memories of her father, Maura Delpero’s “Vermiglio” is a heartfelt story of one family’s experience during the final days of World War II.

Awarded the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the 2024 Venice Film Festival where it premiered, the film is set in the picturesque Alpine mountain village of Vermiglio during the mid-1940s. It follows a schoolmaster’s family of 10 as they navigate life on the bare essentials while grappling with the consequences after a Sicilian soldier, played by Giuseppe De Domenico, deserts the army and seeks refuge with them. The soldier’s romance with the family’s eldest daughter, Lucia, portrayed by Martina Scrinzi, unfolds against the backdrop of a provincial family caught in the traditions of a fading era.

The film begins with an intimate portrayal of the Graziadei family as they wake up to the cold light of the wintertime sun. The scene opens with three sisters sleeping side by side in one bed, while two brothers rest in opposite directions in another. Nearby, a baby gently wakes in a crib next to the parents. The next couple of scenes, in which the mother is seen milking a cow and then serving the heated milk to her children, sets the stage for an exploration of the family’s rural life in this remote location in the Val di Sole region of Trentino.

Tommaso Ragno stars as Cesare Graziadei, the strong and brooding schoolmaster and head of the family. Cesare is accustomed to being the intellectual, the instructor, the informer. Throughout the film, he is talking and other people are listening.

A scene from "Vermiglio" (Photo: Cinecittà)

The romance between Lucia and Pietro is the most compelling storyline in the film. Delpero presents the Sicilian soldier as strong and quiet like Cesare but more down-to-earth and approachable. Pietro’s silent nature coupled with the Southern vs. Northern Italian language barrier add to his mystery and allure. Cesare appears to feel challenged by the similarities as well as the differences, and he doesn’t readily accept the growing affection between this man and his daughter.

The film explores family dynamics in Italy at a time and place in which patriarchs often decided the fates of their daughters based on narrow-minded perception. Although Cesare is well-schooled, he is shaped by a physical world that doesn’t extend beyond the mountains that surround his tiny village. Lucia is viewed as destined to remain in Vermiglio, while Flavia (Anna Thaler), the youngest and most free-spirited of the bunch, is deemed sharp enough to attend boarding school.

“Vermiglio” is distinguished by its cinematography and set design. Shooting amid the captivating beauty of the Alps, cinematographer Mikhail Krichman beautifully captures the transition of natural light from harsh winter to hopeful spring, serving as both the physical and emotional backdrop for the film. Vito Giuseppe Zito’s set design sets the interior tone with cave-like taverns and primitive homes. The story is slow-moving and quiet, accentuating the grandeur of the snow-covered mountainous landscapes. These powerful elements allow viewers to abandon the present and immerse themselves in a distinctly different time and place.

When talking about the film with Cinecittà, Delpero referred to the town in which “Vermiglio” is set as a landscape of the soul, a “family lexicon” that lives inside of her. She said that making the film was an unconscious act of love for her father, his family and their small village. In collaborating with Krichman and Zito, she brings that village to life and plunges the audience into that landscape.

“Vermiglio” was shown at numerous international film festivals in 2024 and was presented at the 2025 Palm Springs International Film Festival in January. It was released in select theaters across the U.S. in December of last year and is now available to stream on several platforms, including Amazon, YouTube and Apple TV.

- Written by Jeannine Guilyard for Fra Noi Magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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