Цитата:
Freely adapted from Albino Bernardini's semi-autobiographical Un anno a Pietralata [A Year in Pietralata] (1968) -- and drawing on the lessons of Lorenzo Milani's Lettera a una professoressa [Letter to a Professor], published six years earlier -- Diario di un maestro follows teacher Bruno D'Angelo (played by Bruno Cirino) as he enters the homes and lives of his students, earning their trust and figuring out how to teach them in a way that makes sense in the socio-economic context of their lives. Shot in 16mm and produced by the RAI, Diario di un maestro was a landmark series, groundbreaking in its portrayal of an otherwise-invisible social reality. Neither fully fictional nor fully documentary, the series can be considered an original application of the theories of direct cinema. The four-part series -- completed in 1972 -- aired on successive Sundays from February 11 to March 4, 1973, and had an average audience of 12 million viewers, sparking public debates on educational policy and helping to lay the groundwork for the renovation of the borgate in the succeeding decades. A shortened, 135-minute version was released to cinemas. The success of the series marked the beginning of a long collaboration between de Seta and the RAI.