VIOLET TREFUSIS’ FLORENCE. L’ESPRIT DE VIOLETTE

written and directed by Tiziana Masucci

Violet Trefusis’ Florence. L’esprit de Violette is the true story of a remarkable woman and her cosmopolitan esprit. A double biopic of Violet Trefusis, writer, cosmopolitan intellectual and patron of the arts; and of her city of Florence, where she lived in the beautiful Villa dell’Ombrellino. Between the 50s’ and the end of the 60’s Florence becomes the Capital of Fashion, it rediscovers its cultural treasures, its creativity, and craft skills. In this new Renaissance Violet Trefusis succeeds in establishing a cosmopolitanism that makes Florence le passage générale de toute Europe. Her Villa dell’Ombrellino is not only a benchmark for illustrious guests. It is an international place for cultural exchanges, a melting pot of languages where differences are considered an enrichment, never a limit.

This documentary-film is the result of a long and painstaking research. It is entirely based on original and unique documentation (found-footage, pictures, historical documents, private papers). A special contribution is added by the interviews. Some of the interviewees have accepted to talk in front of a camera for the first time, and offer markedly significant testimony. Violet Trefusis’ Florence. L’esprit de Violette is a fresh and ravishing portrait, a fascinating and striking journey through Florence, Paris, and London to rediscover the eclectic esprit de Violette who might have been found “too modern” in any period of History.