When Ida and Urbano Fellini bore their first son, Federico, they must have known that he would be far from a calm easygoing person. On the evening of January 20, 1940, the weather at the seaside resort of Rimini on the Adriatic coast of Italy, was not pleasant. There was thunder, lightning, high seas, winds, and heavy rains; quite a setting for the entrance of one who was to be regarded as one of the greatest film directors in history. Urbano was prominent salesman of confectionaries and preserves, and dreamed of training his son for the bar. Ida, who had a vibrant personality and a flair for art, was mainly in charge of raising Federico and his younger siblings, Riccado and Maddalena.Fellini was a fairly good student, though not wonderful. He was sent to a parochial school and did fairly well, though not wonderfully. He learned to be terrified of his teachers (who were nuns), and basically of religion in general. He remembers one incident where he was admonished by a nun during an outside gathering at which he was assigned to hold a candle : "Don't let the candle go out because Jesus won't like it." Federico became so overwhelmed with the responsibility of holding the candle that he completely broke down crying. Such memories about religion would later affect his work. Going to the cinema, though, was one of Fellini's favourite passions. He would often go with his father and .remember specific details regarding the movie and even the theatre. Also, he seemed obsessed with the circus and often claimed that he had run away with them when he was seven.Fellini had a small group of friends, of which he seemed to be the ringleader. They would play jokes on the other children and on the teachers in his school. During confession, Federico would often make up sins just to hear the reaction of the priest; setting fire to his own home, causing the deaths of hundreds of people, axing a priest to death, and kicking a friend durin...
