Steno

Steno, pseudonym of Stefano Vanzina, was an Italian director, screenwriter and cartoonist. Graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, he entered the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografìa in the mid-thirties and began to draw caricatures, cartoons and humorous articles by adopting the pseudonym Steno (which he will also use in the cinema except on two occasions in which signed with his real name) in homage to the novels of Flavia Steno, first at the Tribuna illustrata, then entering the editorial staff of the famous humorous newspaper Marc'Aurelio, forge of later important names such as Marcello Marchesi and Federico Fellini, where he remained for five years, at the same time also writing radio scripts and texts for the show theater. The titles of the films he directed marked an era. An ironic and, at times, irreverent director, he also suffered a censorship misadventure in 1954 with the "gallant" comedy The Adventures of Giacomo Casanova, withdrawn from the screens and put back into circulation after numerous cuts. A restored version of this film was presented in a collateral section of the 62nd Venice Film Festival.