by Andrea Fagioli

In the splendid rooms of the Uffizi, in Florence, there is much of our history and our faith. By crossing them we can get an idea of ​​many things, including what Saint Joseph looked like according to the great Renaissance artists. Filippo Lippi imagines him old and worried, "with his hand on his cheek", precisely the one that Bernardino of Siena contested.

Botticelli and Ghirlandaio think no differently. Even Michelangelo in the Doni Tondo depicts him as he was older. The only one to believe this in full force is Bronzino, that is, one in five, confirming that the idea that Saint Joseph was old prevails in the collective imagination. Cinema, as we saw with the examples from last time, is practically divided: some directors have depicted Mary's husband in a classic way, so to speak, others in a modern way. In any case, one of the most original Saint Josephs to appear on the big screen was offered to us by Roberto Benigni in 1983 with Tu mi turbi, which as we know is a film divided into four episodes of which the first, Durante Cristo, also features the most famous foster father in history. The apparition is fleeting, but the context is unpredictable. The Tuscan director imagines that Giuseppe, to go out to dinner with Mary, calls his friend Benigno to babysit Jesus. Time for a goodbye ("Have fun") and Benigno, a shepherd who has lost all his flock until The last sheep takes center stage with a series of respectful gags inspired by episodes from the Gospel. But that Giuseppe walking away on his wife's arm still strikes the viewer.

Another Saint Joseph a little outside the box is the one played by Diego Abantatuono in Giovanni Veronesi's film Per amore solo per amore, based on the novel of the same name by Pasquale Festa Campanile and released in theaters in 1993. Here Joseph is initially represented as a man of the world with very little that is religious. What transforms him will be his love for Maria after many misunderstandings due to the mysterious pregnancy.

However, Joseph of Nazareth, produced in 2000 by Lux VIde, directed by Raffaele Mertes and Elisabetta Marchetti, with music by Marco Frisina, and a substantial adherence to the Gospel with a story told through the very eyes of the protagonist played by Tobias Moretti.

There are also a series of films with the identical title, simply Jesus, in which, obviously, Saint Joseph also appears. Among these there is another product from Lux Vide, which is part of the great international television production on the characters of the Bible. Directed by Roger Young and released in 1998, this Jesus once again features an elderly Saint Joseph, but with an important role in his son's education. Young also imagines that it is Joseph's death that pushes Jesus to begin his mission.

An important role also falls to Giuseppe reinterpreted by Fabrizio Costa in the 1999 TV film Maria, daughter of his son, which is based more on the apocryphal gospels. In this case the putative father is required, like the bride, to become a disciple and "son of his son" according to Dante's wonderful expression.

Another TV film is The Holy Family, from 2006, again directed by Raffaele Mertes (former director of Joseph of Nazareth), also based on the apocrypha, but with some notable liberties such as that of proposing a Joseph (played by Alessandro Gassmann) who he has already had a wife and is the father of two sons and a daughter, and he feels too old for Maria.

We close with Nativity, a film by Catherine Hardwicke, released in cinemas at the end of 2006, featuring very young Joseph and Mary for a rather delicate story faithful to the Gospel stories of Matthew and Luke.