QNM interviews Valentina Vezzali, Italian fencing pro, specialized in foils. She's the first female fencer in the world to receive three consecutive Olympic gold medals. She's also won five other world titles and five European titles (in individual matches). You should watch our video proverbi italiani afterwards.

Giuliano Montaldo tells about how he got his start, from being a ham actor in Genoa to becoming an assistant to film director Carlo Lizzani, to making his first movie.

Giuliano tells about meeting Vera for the first time, and then he and Vera take turns telling about how their relationship developed.

Giuliano and Vera talk about some of the colorful episodes in their time together on set. Vera tells about how Giuliano accepted her daughter, Elisabetta, from a previous relationship.

Giuliano and Vera were of one mind regarding respect for workers and fighting against intolerance. One episode that particularly struck Giuliano was the news from the United States involving Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrants, and anarchists, who were unjustly arrested and condemned to the electric chair in 1927. Montaldo would go on to make a film about that story.

Giuliano and Vera talk a little bit about the music for the Sacco and Vanzetti film, as well as a serendipitous moment in NY connected with that. When the film came out it had success, especially with young people. Their outrage about the unfair trial led to the governor of Massachusetts recognizing the unfairness of their trial.

What works in the relationship between Vera and Giuliano is partly the fact that they complement each other, like yin and yang. They talk about a biographical movie they made about Giordano Bruno, a 16th-century Italian philosopher and cosmological theorist, with Gian Maria Volonté.

Montaldo tells how the film about Marco Polo came about. It was shot on three different continents.

Inti, who was the 9-year-old grandson of Giuliano and Vera, went to see them as they were filming in China. They put him to work and the experience had a huge influence on him.

After filming Marco Polo in China, where they made lots of friends, they return to Italy to film Gli Occhiali d'Oro (English title: The Gold Rimmed Glasses). Many famous actors took part in that film, all of them beloved by Vera and Giuliano.

The first screening of the Gold Rimmed Glasses was a success. Even Bassani, who had written the novel the film was based upon, had good things to say. Inti and her mother comment on the relationship between Vera and Giuliano.

Giuliano Montaldo received a great many proposals for movies. But he remained amazed to encounter so many people who loved the cinema as much as he did.

Vera and Giuliano share some memories about how they found some of their ideas for movies. They also talk about Giuliano's acting, which was not always appreciated.

Vera and Giuliano are each true fans of the other. But Vera can't help preferring Giuliano's directing artistry to his acting skills.

After talking about the past, Vera and Giuliano talk about what they'd like to do in the future: There are places to visit and revisit.