Steno (director)

Steno's father, Alberto Vanzina was a journalist from Piedmont working for Corriere della Sera. He emigrated to South America in 1930, founding a newspaper in Venezuela. He met Steno's mother, Giulia Boggio on the ship on the journey over there.^[1] Steno was born in Rome, and spent his childhood in Arona.^[2]

He studied at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, where he started to draw caricatures and write humorous articles, adopting the pseudonym "Steno", as an homage to the novels of Francesca Steno.^[3][4]

Steno started working with Mario Mattoli in 1939, as set designer and writer. Steno's first film credit was with Mattoli for Defendant, Stand Up! (Italian: Imputato, alzatetvi). His first credit as director came in 1949 alongside Mario Monicelli, with A Night of Fame (Italian: Al diavolo la celebrità).^[5]

From 1952 onwards Steno directed solo. He directed primarily comedy films, working with some of the great names in Italian cinema, such as Totò and Alberto Sordi, in films including Toto and the King of Rome (Italian: Totò e I re di Roma) An American in Rome (Italian: Un americano a Roma).^[6]

Two of his films, Un giorno in pretura (1954) and Febbre da cavallo (1976), were shown in a retrospective section on Italian comedy at the 67th Venice International Film Festival.^[7]