Maria Callas's dress made by the Florentine Master Craftsmen

In the Museum Hall dedicated to Maria Callas, the faithful copy of the dress designed by Franco Zeffirelli for the “Divine” has finally taken its place. The dress was created for the 1955 “Il Turco in Italia” at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. The makeover of the dress was carried out by Elena Puliti and Massimo Poli thanks to the generous donation of the Firenze Donna Association.

The dress is one of the pieces dearest to the Maestro. In fact, it marks an important moment in Franco Zeffirelli’s professional and private life, definitively confirming his activity as a director at La Scala and marking the beginning of his artistic partnership with the great Maria Callas.

The Maestro formed a deep friendship with her, which he often spoke about with affection. In his autobiography the Maestro often and delicately reveals the respectful and sometimes flirtatious intimacy that bound them:

“With all the sacrifices I’ve made to lose weight, you make me look fatter than before in these costumes.”

This was Maria Callas’ comment the first time she wore, during the fitting phase, the dress designed for her by Franco Zeffirelli.

The dresses “were simply and prettily Empire style, 1810, with the waist just below the breast. He was right in his own way about the fact that they didn’t show how slim she had become.

Maria began to secretly go to the seamstress to ask her to lower the waistline; of course, I went there too immediately afterwards and made him stand up again.

In the end we had a calm discussion, in which I did everything I could to explain to her that she was enchanting in those simple, tight costumes. But what convinced her was when I told her that no woman could afford such a high figure without looking awkward and awkward.

“Okay,” he conceded, “do whatever you want, as long as we have fun.”

Pippo Zeffirelli commissioned the work of reconstructing the dress to two illustrious representatives of the “Florentine professions” linked to the world of theater and cinema, Massimo Poli and Elena Puliti.

As Elena Puliti, close collaborator of Anna Anni, who was responsible for defining the approach of the reconstruction work, says (very difficult!) research of materials and tailoring techniques: “it is a real reconstruction… which has the The aim is to follow the initial vision as much as possible...”, visible in the scene photos, eliminating all the additions and modifications made over time by the tailors who, as per tradition, once the dress has been produced, are free to modify it for rent in other productions.

A project and historical research work that involved the two artist-craftsmen in the reconstruction of a work of theatrical tailoring from the 1950s.

As Massimo Poli, former owner of the well-known Sartoria Teatrale Fiorentina, which for over 150 years has provided Florence and the world of entertainment with unique sartorial creations, says: “Remaking a suit is a long and complex job, made up of sartorial analysis. The first step was to analyze the types of fabric used, the methods of cutting and basting” in order to faithfully reconstruct a dress which is the synthesis of a historical period, of a phase in the history of the theatre, witness to a artistic bond between two unique personalities, Franco Zeffirelli and Maria Callas.