1964 | 2024. 60 Years of The Thieving Magpie

This special exhibition celebrates the 60th anniversary of The Thieving Magpie (La Gazza Ladra), the animated film by Giulio Gianini and Emanuele Luzzati, nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1966. From 21 April to 28 May, Casa Luzzati presents around one hundred original works related to the films of the Rossini Trilogy: The Thieving Magpie, Pulcinella and The Italian Girl in Algiers (Pulcinella e l’Italiana in Algeri), the The Thieving Magpie book published by Mursia, engravings, screen prints, woodcuts and posters created for theatrical productions. The auditorium dedicated to Giulio Gianini features large-format photographs of the two filmmakers. Casa Luzzati also becomes a child-friendly discovery trail, offering a rich programme of creative workshops, meetings with authors, film screenings, animated readings and many other special events.

The Thieving Magpie is a 1964 animated film directed by Giulio Gianini and Emanuele Luzzati. Inspired by Gioachino Rossini’s opera of the same name, it uses the famous overture as its soundtrack, while telling an entirely original story unrelated to the opera’s plot.
It was the early 1960s. Giulio Gianini, an acclaimed cinematographer with extensive experience in colour film, was searching for an artist capable of creating the imagery for an animated film, a passion he had nurtured since childhood. At the same time, Emanuele Luzzati, already celebrated as an outstanding stage designer, felt the need to express his artistic vision in a richer and more complex way, combining storytelling with the expressive power of colour in motion.
From the meeting of these two artists—united by extraordinary creativity, a playful and poetic view of the world, and a shared love for the music of Gioachino Rossini, perhaps the most spirited of Italian composers—was born The Thieving Magpie, the first film in the celebrated Rossini Trilogy by Giulio Gianini and Emanuele Luzzati.

The exhibition is held under the patronage of ASIFA – Italian Association of Animated Film.
At Casa Luzzati. Free admission. Extended until October 2025.