Late-breaking news: Nanni Moretti in Scooter Accident

We interrupt our coverage of one Moretti (Luigi) to bring you this bulletin on another (Nanni - no relation).  Back to Luigi in a couple of days.

Nanni Moretti, the Italian film director and star (sometimes referred to as the Woody Allen of Italian cinema), is undoubtedly the most famous scooter-ist in Italy, maybe anywhere.  He earned the title (actually shared with Gregory Peck's fictional reporter in Roman Holiday, chauffering Audrey Hepburn around Rome) with his scootering performance in Caro Diario (1994), where he tours the city and environs in the silence of the early summer morning in Rome, on a Vespa.

The intersection where the accident occurred.
Nanni, if heading home, would have been going
 in the direction of the car, above

The myth of Nanni Moretti came up against cold reality last night (June 1) at about 10 p.m. when Nanni (just back from heading the jury at Cannes), was riding his Vespa blu in Monteverde Vecchio (about a half mile from his home and serenditipitously the apartment where we're staying).  He was struck broadside by a Fiat 600 at the intersection of  via Fratelli Bonnet and via del Vascello.  It's likely (we're piecing things together here) that Nanni had eaten at the restaurant Lumie di Sicilia ("molto frequentato" (very frequented, i.e. popular), according to the daily newspaper La Repubblica), then hopped on the scooter.  He was "investito" (hit) almost immediately.  Another word for "investito" is "travolto."

Help (soccorso) was available within minutes, and Moretti was--as the law requires--taken to the nearest hospital, a protective collar around his neck (see newspaper photo at right).  Despite the next day's headline--"Paura per Nanni Moretti" (fear for....) he was not, apparently, in any real danger.  He arrived at the nearby San Camillo hospital "code green" (which in our experience - but maybe not Moretti's - means you'll wait a long time), and a supervising physician made reassuring comments.

Nanni's Vespa, awaiting Nanni's recovery, in
ristorante Lumie di Sicilia

While on the stretcher waiting to be whisked away from the scene of the accident, Nanni was heard to have said, "tomorrow I'll return to pick up the Vespa."  We assume he did so, though when we surveyed the scene the following morning, the Vespa remained inside the closed restaurant. 

Bill