Francesca De Simone attended the three-year Set Design programme at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli and the two-year programme at R.U.F.A., graduating in 2015 and winning the award for best thesis with “Fantasia”. Immediately after graduating, she joined her family in Modena and, after meeting a group of musicians, she created the set design for the Musical “Al’s Adventure in wonderland” in collaboration with a materials recycling association and a person who would become a close friend. In 2016 she began working as a Colour and Trim designer at Ferrari in Maranello. Together with the team, she contributed to the development of the latest Ferrari models created within the Centro Stile di Maranello, including the SF90 Stradale, one of the latest creations from the Prancing Horse. Today she combines her work and her passion for drawing with being Camilla’s mother.
Fantasia. Quando le animazioni prendono vita
Francesca De Simone focused her attention on Disney’s celebrated masterpiece Fantasia, one of the first works by the famous American film animation industry, conceived as a true musical. The aim of her thesis project was to bring the subject to the stage, bringing it to life through a ballet that moved, according to the music, from classical to modern dance and, in some cases, to pure choreographic movements.
She took on a project involving a high degree of risk: attempting to imagine recreating such an animated film on stage with the aim of making both adults and children dream.
This was achieved through the combination of music, dance, costumes and sets: a fusion of sensations capable of recreating the same majesty and significance of a work that, despite 75 years having passed since its premiere, remains, even today, an unforgettable aesthetic experience.
