The Flowers of St. Francis - Production

Production

Rossellini had been working on a film about St. Francis for years and he later called this film his favorite of his own works. Rossellini and Federico Fellini wrote a treatment of the film that was 28 pages long and contained only 71 lines of dialogue. It was partially inspired by such St. Francis legends as the Fioretti and Life of Brother Ginepro. Rossellini said that it was not intended to be a bio-pic, but would focus on one specific aspect of st. Francis's personality: his whimsy. Rossellini described this aspect of St. Francis as "The Jester of God." The film was a series of episodes from St. Francis's life and contained no plot or character development. Rossellini received funding from Angelo Rizzoli and from the Vatican to make the film. He cast the same Franciscan monks who had appeared in his earlier film Paisà. All of the other actors were also non-professionals, except for Aldo Fabrizi.

Filming began on January 17, 1950 in the Italian countryside between Rome and Bracciano. Fellini was not present during the shooting and Rossellini depended on help with the films dialogue from Brunello Rondi and Father Alberto Maisano. During the shooting Rossellini's and Ingrid Bergman's son Renato was born on February 2, 1950, although he was not officially divorced until February 9. The films extras brought riccota to the newborn baby during the films production.