Amedeo Minghi
Il fantastico mondo di Fantaghirò

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful and intelligent princess, daughter of a warrior king.
She broke all the rules of her kingdom to pursue her truth, her being.
She loved to fight, an extremely forbidden act for a woman, let alone a princess.
She was literate, adventurous, and rebellious.
One day her kingdom received an invitation from the enemy king for a duel and the young princess, who only gave her father, the king, anxiety due to her peculiarities, was not caught unprepared, thus defending her kingdom.
The two combatants fell in love during the sword fight, then married, but the marriage had to be cut short by news: the king, father of the bride, was kidnapped by a black witch.
The almost-groom declared war immediately and left, leaving the almost-bride safely in the kingdom.
But the plans of the black witch were more sinister, and the young princess who had sworn never to touch a weapon again, was filled with love and courage and rushed into the "dark kingdom" to save her love..

The malice did not end; on the contrary, an ugly and dangerous sorcerer named Tarabas discovered that his powerful kingdom would be destroyed by a royal child, so he gathered his terracotta army to kidnap all the royal children.
The young king and the princess, side by side, repelled the army, but the king fell into a cursed river that turned him into a stone, and the princess set out in search of the terrible Tarabas, the only one who could save the beloved king.

Neither the black witch nor the terrible Tarabas were the only malevolent beings.
A distressing dark cloud brought death and destruction to the entire kingdom, and the two newlyweds fought hard to suppress it.

Years passed and the princess was kidnapped! Once again, the black witch comes out into the open.
In a parallel continent, terrifying events began to occur: Vegetables and fruits started rebelling against humans, spreading terror among the incredulous population. The kingdom was besieged by strange evil soldiers made of fruit who kidnapped the inhabitants, preferring children, to feed them to a dark captain of a floating vessel.

Thanks to the help of a magical talking root, the children who survived the massacre were able to call a hero.
Every child did nothing but pluck a leaf from the root, make a wish, and eat it. The kids wished for a strong, combative, courageous hero, but two of them wished that the hero knew how to cook delicious dishes and that she was a woman.

While the princess was about to be killed by the black witch, the magic root recognized in her all the requisites expressed by the children, and the woman escaped death once again, finding herself in the other world.
With a not too easy beginning due to the fact that the children did not grow on her, the princess began to study the situation and with an ally, "Aries," reached the final confrontation with "nameless," the captain of the vessel, who turned out to be a sort of automaton constructed by a magical craftsman with wood from a bewitched tree, the apalicandro, completely indestructible.
Defeated the cannibal monster, happiness returned and the princess took part in the celebrations.


The little girl, the same one who wished for a female hero at the beginning of the story, goes to the princess to give her the magical root, whose leaves have regrown, to allow her to make the wish to return to her world. The little girl saw the princess in the company of Aries, understood she was finally happy, and threw away the root, leaving the princess unaware of everything.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: this is the story of Fantaghirò! The best-selling series in the world. As many as 44 foreign countries have been able to see the love story between Romualdo and Fantaghirò.
The original idea stems from Italo Calvino's fairy tale, "Fantaghirò persona bella." Despite the 5 Fantaghirò films, the fairy tale is only four pages long, from which Romoli (for the screenplay) drew inspiration only for the first film.
Among all the films in the saga, Fantaghirò 3 is the favorite of both Bava (Director) and Romoli, as the story takes a more horror turn.
The only Italian fantasy film famous worldwide.

But Fantaghirò is not just a television success, its music has made an entire generation pale.
Mr. Minghi says: I produced an immense amount of music for Fantaghirò, publishing 3 albums, and that's because the director wanted a lot of music; he said I was able to give strength to every scene, and with a fantasy, it's not easy because you have to give strength to the most unthinkable things.
There were battles, expeditions, talking animals, a talking stone, and then witches, magic, in short, entire worlds to bring to the heart of the people.

All this is Fantaghirò! Sure, sure, the English have Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings with millions and millions of euros to make it.
Fantaghirò cost very little! Yet it has done just the same, and continues to do so around the world.