Hollywood sul Monte Titano: Il principe delle volpi (1949) e San Marino come location cinematografica periferica."

The article explores the transnational dynamics of the Hollywood historical adventure film Prince of Foxes (1949), directed by Henry King and produced by 20th Century Fox. Starring Tyrone Power as Andrea Orsini and Orson Welles as Cesare Borgia, Prince of Foxes was primarily shot on location in Italy during the early stages of the Hollywood on the Tiber era, a period marked by the rise of ‘runaway productions’ in which American studios increasingly filmed in Europe due to financial, logistical, and creative advantages. Notably, the film was also partially shot in the microstate of San Marino, located in northeastern Italy. This essay aims to examine the transnational circulation of film professionals, capital, and creative practices between Hollywood, Italy, and San Marino, with Prince of Foxes serving as a case study. Through archival research and textual analysis, this work investigates San Marino's geographical and cultural portrayal as a "double periphery" in relation to both Italian and Hollywood cinema. Furthermore, I argue that San Marino’s status as an independent microstate played a crucial role in shaping the film's fictional setting of Città del Monte, a Renaissance-era independent state central to the plot of Prince of Foxes. By considering the intersection of local and global filmmaking practices, star power, and geographical peripherality in film history, this paper provides new insights into the ways in which the microstate of San Marino became for a brief moment a Hollywood production’s location in the postwar years.