D'Annunzio's Cave

Heinz Emigholz, the premiere purveyor of architectural oddities (Sullivan's Bridges, Goff in the Desert), meticulously documents 15 rooms of the enormous Villa Cargnacco in Lombardy, Italy, designed by proto-fascist poet Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863-1938). The controversial figure spent 17 years designing the Vittoriale, a state museum on Lake Garda, and furnishing the Villa Cargnacco, which is part of the grand complex. This unusual documentary resulted from a photography session in the villa, when four friends--cinematographers Irene von Alberti, Elfi Mikesch, Klaus Wyborny and Heinz Emigholz--simultaneously filmed the rooms and furnishings of the villa in their own specific styles.