Shooting has begun on the film for television, Carla, a biopic of the early life of Carla Fracci.

Neapolitan actress Alessandra Mastronardi will play Italy’s ballet star in a production by Rai Fiction – the state broadcaster – and Emanuele Imbucci will direct. It is slated to be broadcast on Rai1 in the autumn. Mastronardi is best known internationally for her role in Woody Allen’s 2012 film To Rome With Love.

The drama has been adapted from Fracci’s autobiography Passo dopo passo (Step by Step) and made in consultation with Carla Fracci herself, her husband Beppe Menegatti, and their long-time collaborator Luisa Graziadei.

The 90-minute film will be accompanied by a 75-minute documentary.

After the first weeks of filming in Rome and Orvieto, the set will move to Milan with outside shots as well as scenes to be filmed at La Scala that, for the first time, will open its doors for a TV drama. It was in 1946 that the young Fracci entered La Scala’s ballet academy, graduating in 1954 and becoming the theatre’s prima ballerina in 1958.

Alessandra Mastronardi filming Carla, photo RAI-Anele