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Draft:Un professore

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  • Comment: Thanks for starting this article. It needs references, many of which can be found at the original article on Italian Wikipedia. I hope you continue developing the article, as the subject looks notable, and re-submit it for review when it's got some reliable sources cited. Wikishovel (talk) 11:16, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

Un professore is an Italian television series broadcast in prime time on Rai 1[1] from 11 November 2021.[2]

Un professore is partly based on the format of the Catalan series Merlí.[3] It is directed by Alessandro D'Alatri in the first season and by Alessandro Casale in the second season, produced by Rai Fiction in collaboration with Banijay Studios Italy[4] and stars Alessandro Gassmann.[5][6]

Plot[edit]

Season one[edit]

Dante Balestra is the new philosophy teacher at the Leonardo Da Vinci scientific high school in Rome, where he has returned after an eight-year absence to be with his son, Simone, now that Floriana, his ex-wife, is moving to Glasgow. Charming and unconventional, the professor takes a class at the Leonardo Da Vinci High School where he applies his non-conformist teaching method and establishes a very special relationship with his pupils, including Simone himself. But his manner soon leads to confusing private life with professional life, and the return from the past of Anita, an old acquaintance of his and mother of Manuel, the 'black sheep' of the class, makes things even more complicated.

Season two[edit]

Professor Dante Balestra is now an indispensable presence in the lives of his students, among whom is his son Simone. The beating heart of the series remains the Leonardo Da Vinci high school with the class attended by Simone and Manuel (Anita's son) where Dante, with his usual non-conformist and ingenious flair, uses philosophy to help the boys solve their problems, including complicated love affairs, intrusive parents, daydreams and dashed hopes.

New class members appear in this season, such as Nina, a girl of Polish origin who hides a complicated life path, Rayan, a promising footballer who has arrived from Africa and is more interested in football than in studying, Viola, a disabled girl with an impossible character, and finally Mimmo, a former student of Dante's who ended up in juvenile prison, whom the professor has managed to get committed to the Leonardo Da Vinci library in semi-freedom.

Episodes[edit]

Season Episodes Italian airing
1 12 2021
2 12 2023

Cast[edit]

Main characters[edit]

  • Dante Balestra (season 1-present), played by Alessandro Gassmann. He is the quirky philosophy teacher of 3°B class. An eccentric and womanizing but good-hearted man, he takes great care of the boys in his class and does not shy away from tackling even the most complicated cases. He doesn't have a good relationship with his son Simone due to his long absence. In the finale of the first season, because of a photo Simone found, he is forced to reveal a shocking secret to his son: Simone had a twin brother, Jacopo, who died of meningitis at the age of three. Despite an initial furious reaction from Simone, the two manage to reconcile. In the course of the second season, he has to face not only various problems in his private life, but also a serious health problem caused by an arterio-venous malformation. Faced with the symptoms resulting from the disease and the possible psychological and motor risks of surgery, Dante is forced to choose whether or not to undergo the operation. He betrays Anita with Floriana, only to clear the air in the season finale.
  • Anita Ferro (season 1-present), played by Claudia Pandolfi. She is Manuel's mother, whom Dante had met years earlier in hospital. She raised her son alone; she's a sweet and somewhat melancholic woman. Thanks to her experiences abroad, she has a good command of languages. She starts a relationship with Dante. Following the return of her former flame, Nicola, a period of deep emotional confusion begins for her, in which she betrays Dante with Nicola himself. She later clears things up with Dante and returns with him.
  • Simone Balestra (season 1-present), played by Nicolas Maupas. He is a 3°B student and son of Dante, with whom he does not have a good relationship. He is an apparently rather quiet boy but, in reality, very insecure and troubled by the discovery of new aspects of himself and his life. He leaves Laura because he realises he is gay and falls in love with Manuel, with whom he shares a kiss and a sexual intercourse. He will later become Manuel's best friend. When he finds out about his twin brother Jacopo, he tries to commit suicide, only to be rescued by Manuel and Anita. In the second season he falls in love with Mimmo, reciprocated, who defended him from a homophobic attack. Simone gets closer and closer to him, forming a deep relationship that will later develop into a relationship. When Dante has to be operated on, he faces the fear of losing him, even going so far as to get drunk, but Dante promises him that he will not leave him and later keeps his promise. After months of not hearing from Mimmo, he is forced to say goodbye as the latter has entered the witness protection programme and has to change identity and city.
  • Manuel Ferro (season 1-present), played by Damiano Gavino. He is a repeating student in 3°B class, son of Anita. He is a complicated and troubled boy but gifted with great intelligence and curiosity. He has a relationship with Chicca but later falls in love with the architect Alice. He gets involved with Sbarra in a crime ring. He becomes best friends with Simone, with whom he shares a kiss and a sexual intercourse, both on the latter's birthday. In the second season he meets Nina and immediately falls in love with her. He later starts a relationship with Nina and learns the truth about his father, thus discovering that he is also Viola's half-brother. Although he and Viola cannot stand each other at first, they begin to get closer after the news. He then helps Nina to find her daughter Lilli and, in order to ensure that her adoptive parents do not find her, decides to move to Paris with them, but the plan later fails.
  • Domenico "Mimmo" Bruni (recurring season 1, season 2-present), played by Domenico Cuomo. A boy with an extroverted personality, he is a young inmate of the Juvenile Penal Institute of Nisida and former student of Dante, who is very fond of him. In the second season he is transferred to Rome where he obtains semi-freedom and, thanks to Dante, starts working as an assistant librarian at the Da Vinci High School. Here he meets Simone, which he falls in love with, and defends from a homophobic attack. He will form a deep relationship with Simone, which will later develop into a relationship. In the season finale, having helped to arrest with numerous gangsters, he is forced to say goodbye to Simone as he is put in a witness protection programme and forced to change identity and city.
  • Floriana (season 1-present), played by Christiane Filangieri. She is an university researcher as well as Simone's mother and Dante's ex-wife. Following Dante's constant cheating and, above all, the death of one of their two sons, Jacopo, Simone's twin brother, she decides to move to Glasgow. Simone later joins her for a short time when he comes out to her. In the second season, feeling Simone's missing, she returns to Villa Balestra for a while. During her stay she finds out about Dante's problem and tries to convince him to have an operation. They later share a night of love but realise it was a mistake and never get back together again.
  • Virginia Villa (season 1-present), played by Pia Engleberth. She is a former theatre actress as well as Dante's mother and Simone's grandmother. She runs a theatre laboratory at the Leonardo Da Vinci High School, together with Professor Lombardi. Lively, exuberant, sometimes comical and capable of great human warmth, she was not Dante's ideal mother in her youth, but is now his most assiduous and affectionate confidante.
  • Laura (season 1-present), played by Elisa Cocco. She is a student in 3°B class. She is sweet, cultured and intelligent, so much to the best in the class. She is Luna's best friend and, at the beginning of season 1, Simone's girlfriend. When Simone leaves her she pretends to be pregnant but is unmasked. He later reveals to her that he is gay and in love with Manuel, so the two remain good friends. She starts e-mailing with a boy named The Pen and later will outing Simone to her friends, repenting, however, soon afterwards and asking them to forget the news. At the end of the first season she discovers that The Pen is a classmate of hers, Pin, and the two kiss. In the second season he learns that Luna is having an affair with someone she met online and, sensing the danger from the outset, he goes with her to the rendezvous to check on her, also alerting Dante who, together with Simone and Manuel, will save Luna. At the end of the second season she kisses Matteo.
  • Luna (season 1-present), played by Luna Miriam Iansante. She is a student in 3°B class. She is a sunny and extroverted but very insecure girl and Laura's best friend. She has a crush on Matteo when she discovers that he and Chicca slept together, which leads her to end her friendship with her to then become friends again. She will date a boy, who will turn out to be the son of Professor Franco De Angelis, only to be dumped. In the second season, she starts an affair with a stranger online and, during their live date, she is the victim of a sexual assault but is saved by Dante, Simone and Manuel, who have been warned earlier by Laura.
  • Matteo (season 1-present), played by Davide Divetta. He is a student in 3°B. Considered the class clown, he flirtd with Chicca. In season 2 he has a crush on Laura, initially unrequited, only to share a kiss with her in the season finale.
  • Chicca (season 1), played by Francesca Colucci. A student in 3°B class, she is an eccentric and energetic girl, lively, restless and very good at drawing. She is Manuel girlfriend but when she finds out about the latter's betrayal, with a girl twice his age, she starts flirting with Matteo. It is revealed in the second season that she moved to an artistic high school in order to chase her talent.
  • Monica Altieri (season 1), played by Beatrice De Mei. She is a new student in 3°B. She left her old school because of her oppriment ex-boyfriend. She's kind, polite, intelligent and likes to read. She is in a relationship with Giulio.
  • Giulio Palmieri (season 1), played by Simone Casanica. He is a student in 3°B class, considered the most serious of the class. Very shy and reserved, he is the son of a rich lawyer. In the course of time, he manages to open up and express himself, even overcoming his father's oppression. He has a relationship with Monica.
  • Giuseppe "Pin" Palombo (season 1), played by Alessio De Lorenzi. He is a student in 3°B class. He abandoned school because of the bullying he was victim of, but Dante will help him to overcome his inhibition. It is revealed that he's "The Pen", the boy which Laura was e-mailing with. In the second season it is revealed that he moved to Siena with his mother.
  • Aureliano (season 1), played by Davide Mirti. He is a student in 3°B class and Cecilia's son. An extroverted boy, cheerful and friendly. He interposes himself between Monica and Giulio, trying to win her over, in vain.
  • Cecilia (season 1), played by Francesca Cavallin. She is Aureliano's mother and parental representative. Separated from her husband, she briefly enters into a relationship with Dante.
  • Rayan (season 2-present), played by Khadim Faye. Newcomer to Dante's class. He's an African boy with a great passion for football. He wants to become a footballer, in honour of a promise he made to his now deceased brother. He seems to take life lightly but, in reality, hides great depth. He starts a relationship with Viola.
  • Nina Mazur (season 2-present), played by Margherita Aresti. She is the other newcomer in Dante's class. Of Polish origin, she's an easy-going girl and a reading lover. She has a two-year-old daughter, Lilli, who is taken away from her after a dangerous episode and given to foster parents. She falls in love and starts a relationship with Manuel.
  • Viola Brandi (season 2-present), played by Alice Lupparelli. Nicola's daughter and a very stubborn girl. Disabled after a car accident, she has closed in on herself, making a shield of her lively intelligence. Dante convinces her to come back at school and thanks to her relationships with her new classmates, especially Manuel and Rayan, she embarks on a path of elaboration and acceptance of her disability. She is Manuel's half-sister.
  • Nicola Brandi (season 2-present), played by Thomas Trabacchi. He is an old flame of Anita's as well as Viola's father. A successful manager that travels a lot precisely due to his job. His return to Rome will wreak havoc both in Anita and Manuel's lives and in his own as he discovers that he is Viola's father.

Recurring characters[edit]

  • Felice ‘Sbarra’ Proietti (season 1), played by Loris Loddi. He is a criminal who runs a junkyard and a drug ring.
  • ‘Zucca’ (season 1), played by Andrea Giannini. He is Sbarra's henchman.
  • Ettore (season 1), played by Paolo Conticini. He is an old flame of Anita's and, for a period, her employer.
  • Alice Torresi (season 1), played by Margherita Laterza. She's a young architect with whom Manuel falls in love; she is separated from her husband and has a son.
  • Marina Girolami (season 1-present), played by Sara Cardinaletti. She is the mathematics teacher; she has a brief flirtation with Dante to then only be his friend. She supports Luna after the girl's attempted violence.
  • Franco De Angelis (season 1-present), played by Giorgio Gobbi. He is the Italian professor.
  • Attilio Lombardi (season 1-present), played by Paolo Bessegato. He is the Latin teacher. Rather cynical and severe, he very often offends and mocks the boys; he embodies the "old-fashioned" professor, more interested in dispensing negative evaluations and proposing failures than in the education and growth of the boys. He clashes several times with Dante. Together with Virginia, he directs a drama laboratory within the school.
  • Agata Smeriglio (season 1-present), played by Federica Cifola. She is the school headmaster and an old friend of Dante's.
  • Lino Battaglia (season 1), played by Andrea Preti. He is the physical education teacher.
  • Grazia Morelli (season 1-present), played by Francesca Romana De Martini. She is the art professor and wife of Franco De Angelis.
  • Professor Stagno (season 1-present), played by Francesca Farcomeni. She is the science teacher.
  • Professor Testa (season 1-present), played by Valentina Illuminati. She is the English teacher.
  • Egidio (season 1-present), played by Flavio Domenici. He is the school caretaker.
  • Pantera (season 1-present), played by Mirko Frezza. He is an anti-crime cop and a long-time friend of Dante's.
  • Molosso (season 2), played by Pio Stellaccio. A boss cellmate of Mimmo's. He forces Mimmo to collect the payoff, taking advantage of the boy's semi-freedom.
  • Palommo (season 2), played by Simone Borrelli. He is Molosso's trusted cousin whom Mimmo has arrested.
  • Ernesto Poggi (season 2), played by Andrea Verticchio. He is a fifth-grade bully who ends up in a coma after being attacked by Mimmo, in the latter's attempt to defend Simone from a homophobic attack.
  • Lollo and Balbo (season 2), respectively played by Michele Capuano and Gabriele Santolin. Fifth-grade bullies and Ernesto's friends.
  • Fragoroso (season 2), played by Riccardo Morgante. He is a friend of Manuel's who will help him and Anita with the move to Dante's house.
  • Ardenzi (season 2), played by Enzo Provenzano. He is the elderly owner of the bookstore where Anita works.
  • Elsa Paternò (season 2), played by Chiara Ricci. She is a doctor and an old acquaintance of Dante's. She is the one to inform Dante of his arterio-venous malformation.
  • Sonia Ruffini (season 2), played by Clio Cipolletta. She is the social worker in charge of Nina's daughter.

Differences with Merlì[edit]

Although partly based on the Spanish series, the Italian version has several differences from the original:

  • Anita's character does not exist in the Spanish series.
  • In the Spanish series, Pol doesn't live with his mother, like Manuel in the Italian series, but with his father and brother in their grandmother's house. Pol's father, Alfonso, marries Gloria, the artistic education teacher.
  • In the Italian version Dante and Anita starts a relationship, this doesn't happen in the Spanish version. For the same reason, in the Spanish version the arc of Pol living at Merlí's house doesn't exist, different from the Italian version with Manuel and Anita living at Dante's house.
  • In Merlí, through a time skip, Pol and Bruno get married. In Un Professore Manuel and Simone's bond becomes one of deep friendship, tending towards brotherhood.[7][8]
  • In the Spanish series, Pol explores his bisexuality and has a preference for men. In the Italian series, this isn't represented with his counterpart Manuel rather with Mimmo.
  • Nicola's character exists also in the Spanish version. He is the Italian man which Bruno, Simone's Spanish counterpart, met during summer in Rome, and which he lives together with at the end of season two.
  • In the Spanish series Pol and Bruno part ways for a while due to Pol's leaving to Tokyo with his father. In the Italian series Simone and Mimmo are the ones who part ways due to Mimmo's entering the witness protection programme.
  • Luna and Laura's characters are partly inspired by Tania Illa, Bruno's best friend. In Un professore, Luna takes Tania's personality while Laura her aspect and Simone's friendship (relationship before Simone's coming out). Luna is in love with Matteo, based on Marc Vilaseca's character, exactly like Tania.
  • Aureliano, Monica and Giulio's love triangle is examined in depth in the Spanish version with, respectively, Joan, Monica and Gerard's character but with the boy's roles reversed. Although Joan shares Giulio's family situation, he's the one who interposes between Monica and Gerard (like Aureliano does) and eventually starts a relationship with Monica. Gerard is Gina's son, a parent representative which starts a relationship with Merlí, exactly like it happens with Dante and Cecilia, Aureliano's mother, in the Italian series. Always in the latter, all these characters do not appear in the second season.
  • Pin, the guy who suffers from agoraphobia due to the bullying he went through, is inspired by Ivan. He appears only in season one.
  • In season one finale Chicca goes to another school in order to chase his artistic talent. This doesn't happen to her Spanish counterpart, Berta. Furthermore, is Berta who pretends to be pregnant when Pol leaves her. In the Italian series, Laura is the one who pretends it when she's dumped by Simone, which is Bruno's Italian counterpart not Pol's.

Production[edit]

The series is produced by Rai Fiction in collaboration with Banijay Studios Italy.[4]

The filming of the first season took place in Rome[9]: some scenes were shot in Civitavecchia at the Grotta Aurelia bathing establishment and at the villaggio del fanciullo.[10] Some scenes were filmed inside the Giovanni Battista Grassi Museum of Comparative Anatomy of the Sapienza University of Rome.

After the great success of the first season, the series was renewed for a second season.[11] Its filming began in February 2023[12][13] and ended in July of the same year, always in Rome.[14][15] Much of the filming was shot in the Monti district. The school where Dante teaches is the Leonardo Da Vinci high school, while the bookstore where Anita works is Libreria Panisperna 220.

On 22 December 2023, the series was renewed for a third season.[16]

Distribution[edit]

The series has been aired in prime time on Rai 1 since 11 November 2021: the first season ran from 11 November[17] to 16 December 2021, while the second season ran from 23 November[18][19] to 21 December 2023. It has been stated that the third season will air in 2025.[20]

Soundtrack[edit]

The theme song is called Spazio Tempo (Space Time) and it is sung by Francesco Gabbani.[21] In season two the track Dammi un bacio ja' (Come on give me a kiss), sung by Leo Gassman, joins the soundtrack of the series.[22]

Awards[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ ""Un professore": dall'11 novembre su Rai1 la serie di Banijay Studios Italy". November 8, 2021.
  2. ^ https://notizieh24.eu/un-professore-su-rai-1-da-giovedi-11-novembre-2021/[dead link]
  3. ^ "Un professore". Banijay Studios Italy.
  4. ^ a b "Un Professore | Banijay Studios Italy".
  5. ^ "Alessandro Gassmann è Un Professore". DavideMaggio.it.
  6. ^ Maggesi, Niccolo (December 9, 2021). "UN PROFESSORE fiction Alessandro Gassman: tutte le news".
  7. ^ Manca, Mario (December 16, 2021). "Alessandro D'Alatri: «Così Un professore ha rotto un tabù»". Vanity Fair Italia.
  8. ^ "Un professore 3 si farà? Anticipazioni sulla terza stagione, Petraglia: "Simone, Manuel e torna Mimmo"". Spettacolo Fanpage. December 21, 2023.
  9. ^ "Le location di Un Professore, dove è girata la fiction Rai con Alessandro Gassman". Roma Fanpage. November 11, 2021.
  10. ^ "Anticipazioni TV". ComingSoon.it.
  11. ^ "Un professore, seconda stagione: quando inizia, trama, cast e anticipazioni". Today.
  12. ^ Onofrio, Stefano D. (January 22, 2023). "LE RIPRESE DI UN PROFESSORE 2 INIZIANO A FEBBRAIO".
  13. ^ "Quando esce Un Professore 2? Le novità della seconda stagione: dal nuovo regista al primo ciak a Roma". optimagazine.com. Archived from the original on 8 February 2023.
  14. ^ "Un Professore 2 inizio riprese a Roma: la seconda stagione riparte da un nuovo regista, tante conferme e nuovi ingressi". www.spettacoloitaliano.it. January 21, 2023.
  15. ^ https://www.tvserial.it/un-professore-2-stagione-quando-esce-anticipazioni-episodi-streaming-video/[dead link]
  16. ^ ""Un professore": tutto pronto per la terza stagione". December 22, 2023.
  17. ^ Gregorio, Silvia Di (June 6, 2022). "Un Professore, il fenomeno targato Rai torna in televisione a partire dal 7 giugno". Tvserial.it.
  18. ^ "In prima serata su Rai1, da giovedì 23 novembre, arriva la seconda stagione della serie "Un Professore"". spettacolomusicasport.com. November 23, 2023.
  19. ^ Pogliani, Federica (November 16, 2023). "Un Professore, la seconda stagione rimandata di una settimana "per colpa" di Jannik". Tvserial.it.
  20. ^ Palombo, Giusy (April 28, 2024). "Rai Fiction, le novità da vedere in autunno e nel 2025: da Un Professore a Imma Tataranni".
  21. ^ Zani, Simone (November 3, 2021). "Francesco Gabbani, svelata data di uscita del nuovo brano Spazio Tempo".
  22. ^ Desando, Concetta (November 24, 2023). "Alessandro Gassmann, l'altro grande protagonista di "Un Professore 2" è suo figlio Leo". Amica.
  23. ^ Antonio Naselli (2022-06-05). "NASTRO SPECIALE PER ALESSANDRO GASSMANN". Nastri d'Argento (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  24. ^ ""PREMIO BIAGIO AGNES": ANNUNCIATI I VINCITORI 2024".
  25. ^ "NASTRI D'ARGENTO - GRANDI SERIE 2024, TUTTI I VINCITORI".
  26. ^ Antonio Naselli (2024-05-09). "NASTRI d'ARGENTO GRANDI SERIE 2024 | LE CANDIDATURE". Nastri d'Argento (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  27. ^ a b c "Tornano i Ciak d'oro Serie TV".

External links[edit]

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