La marchesa, la monaca, la matta e la spia

THE MARQUISE, THE NUN, THE MAD AND THE SPY film card

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LA MARCHESA, LA MONACA, LA MATTA E LA SPIA

THE MARQUISE, THE NUN, THE MAD AND THE SPY

Antonella Kurzen

55' /

Switzerland

/ 2024

A retreat “for religious study and rest.” This was how the Marquise Carla Nobili Vitelleschi justified the construction of a building at 1,700 meters above sea level, on the rocky cliffs of Monte Generoso. But that strange, nearly inaccessible house—perched high on the rocks on the Swiss-Italian border in the Lugano Prealps—hardly looked like a retreat. Its position made it resemble a wartime bunker or a place of worship for hermits. What were the marquise’s true intentions? And who was she really? A spy? A madwoman? An eccentric nun in search of peace? Or none of the above? The documentary seeks to unravel these mysteries through interviews, archival documents, and climbs to the enigmatic house, whose story intertwines with that of the marquise herself—from her connections with the Fascist regime, to her admiration for Gandhi, to her final retreat in Rocca di Papa, in the Castelli Romani. A woman as intriguing as the refuge she had built into the rock.