{{Other uses of|Fantozzi}} {{Infobox character | name = Ugo Fantozzi | series = [[Fantozzi (film)|Fantozzi]] | image = Paolo Villaggio Fantozzi 2.png | caption = Ugo Fantozzi ([[Paolo Villaggio]]) in the film ''[[Fantozzi (film)|Fantozzi]]'', during the iconic [[Five-pin billiards|five-pin]] match scene | first = ''Fantozzi'' (1971 novel)<br />''[[Fantozzi (film)|Fantozzi]]'' (1975 film) | last = ''[[Fantozzi 2000 – La clonazione]]'' (1999 film)<br />''Tragica vita del ragionier Fantozzi'' (2012 novel) | creator = [[Paolo Villaggio]] | nickname = * Pupazzi, Fantocci, Bambocci, Bagherozzi, Beccacci, Cagnacci, Mortacci, Fantozzo and Tozzi-Fan (mistakenly) * Puccettone (by Calboni) | race = White | species = Human | occupation = [[Accountant]] | spouse = Pina Fantozzi (surname never mentioned) | children = Mariangela Fantozzi (daughter) | relatives = Uga Fantozzi (granddaughter) | nationality = [[Italy|Italian]] }}
'''Ugo Fantozzi''' ({{IPA|it|ˈuːɡo fanˈtɔttsi|pron}}) is a fictional character, appearing in Italian literature and film, created by [[Paolo Villaggio]]. The character, initially part of Villaggio's television [[monologue]]s, later became the [[protagonist]] of a series of [[Short story|short stories]] published at first in [[newspaper]]s, later in collections, which in turn inspired a successful [[film series]] starring Villaggio himself as the main character.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.viv-it.org/schede/fantozzi|title=Fantozzi|access-date=15 December 2022|language=it}}</ref>
Of the many films telling of Fantozzi's misadventures, the most notable and famous were ''[[Fantozzi (film)|Fantozzi]]'' (1975) and ''[[Il secondo tragico Fantozzi]]'' (1976), both directed by [[Luciano Salce]], but many others were produced. The other films were ''[[Fantozzi contro tutti]]'' (1980) directed by [[Neri Parenti]], ''[[Fantozzi subisce ancora]]'' (1983) by Neri Parenti, ''[[Superfantozzi]]'' (1986) by Neri Parenti, ''[[Fantozzi va in pensione]]'' (1988) by Neri Parenti, ''[[Fantozzi alla riscossa]]'' (1990) by Neri Parenti, ''[[Fantozzi in paradiso]]'' (1993) by Neri Parenti, ''[[Fantozzi – Il ritorno]]'' (1996) by Neri Parenti and ''[[Fantozzi 2000 – La clonazione]]'' (1999) by Domenico Saverni.
Although Villaggio's movies tend to bridge comedy with a more elevated social satire, this character had a great impact on Italian society, to such a degree that the adjective ''fantozziano'' entered the lexicon.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/fantozziano/|title=Fantozziano|access-date=4 December 2022|language=it}}</ref> Ugo Fantozzi represents the [[archetype]] of the average Italian of the 1970s, middle-class with a simple lifestyle with the anxieties common to an entire class of workers,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://centrostudipsicologiaeletteratura.org/2019/03/fantozzi-antieroe-moderno/|title=Fantozzi, antieroe moderno|access-date=3 December 2022|language=it}}</ref> being re-evaluated by critics.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.avvenire.it/agora/pagine/aldo-grasso-villaggio-lha-sfruttato-troppo-molto-meglio-il-suo-fracchia-t|title=Aldo Grasso: "Villaggio l'ha sfruttato troppo Molto meglio il suo Fracchia televisivo"|access-date=3 December 2022|language=it}}</ref> For the 40 years since the character's debut in the cinema, in 2015, the first two films were restored and re-proposed in theaters.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.repubblica.it/speciali/cinema/roma/edizione2015/2015/10/22/news/fantozzi-125661327/|title=Torna il ragioniere. Villaggio: "Oggi tutti gli italiani sono Fantozzi"|date=22 October 2015|access-date=19 June 2017|language=it}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.macitynet.it/fantozzi-compie-40-anni-film-unapp-ricordare-ragioniere/|title=Fantozzi compie 40 anni. I film e un'app per ricordare il ragioniere - Macitynet.it|date=24 October 2015|access-date=19 June 2017|language=it|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201033017/https://www.macitynet.it/fantozzi-compie-40-anni-film-unapp-ricordare-ragioniere/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Origins== The character, born as a representation of the inept and unfortunate man victim of bullying, has entered the [[social imaginary]] for his grotesque aptitude for psychological subjection to power and as an example of an average man oppressed by society and constantly looking for redemption, "the prototype of the wretch, or the quintessence of nullity", as [[Paolo Villaggio]] himself defined it.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lanazione.it/prato/spettacoli/fantozzi-cinema-de-bernardi-1.1335909|title=Fantozzi torna al cinema. Un mito della commedia "scritto" da un autore pratese|access-date=15 December 2022|language=it}}</ref>
Fantozzi was the surname of a colleague of Villaggio's at a company where the actor had worked as an employee, Italimpianti, and which got involved in the initiatives of Villaggio himself, which he incorrectly called "Selvaggio".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nonsonsolofilm.it/fantozzi-esiste-veramente/|title=Fantozzi esiste veramente|access-date=16 December 2022|language=it}}</ref> Another character created by Villaggio is travel organizer Giandomenico Fracchia, and accountant Filini for the stories and films of Fantozzi.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ilsecoloxix.it/cultura-e-spettacoli/2017/07/05/news/eccola-qui-la-signorina-silvani-paolo-e-al-bagno-dicevamo-lui-era-al-mare-1.30830113|title=Eccola qui, la Signorina Silvani: «Paolo è al bagno, dicevamo. Lui era al mare...»|access-date=16 December 2022|language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://video.repubblica.it/edizione/genova/fracchia-all-italimpianti-di-genova-gli-ex-colleghi-di-paolo-villaggio-raccontano/280307/280898|title=EcFracchia all'Italimpianti di Genova, gli ex colleghi di Paolo Villaggio raccontano|access-date=16 December 2022|language=it}}</ref>
In the stories of Villaggio, among the colleagues of the character, there are in fact two characters, Filini and Fracchia, who in the films were later replaced, due to an intuition of the director [[Luciano Salce]], with only Filini, who would have the role of the best friend of the protagonist and of the organizer who thinks he understands everything.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2017/07/03/paolo-villaggio-morto-84-anni-da-kranz-fracchia-fino-allintuizione-di-fantozzi-e-ai-mantra-identitari-della-sfiga/3702772/|title=Paolo Villaggio morto a 84 anni. Da Kranz a Fracchia fino all’intuizione di Fantozzi (e ai mantra identitari della sfiga)|access-date=16 December 2022|language=it}}</ref>
From his work experiences, Villaggio drew inspiration to write some stories published in ''[[L'Europeo]]'' magazine and which was collected in the book ''Fantozzi'' (1971). The book became a bestseller, selling more than a million copies,<ref name=":0">{{cite book|title=Dizionario dei film|first=Paolo|last=Mereghetti|publisher=Baldini e Castoldi|year=2021|isbn=978-8893883412|language=it}}</ref> being translated into many languages, and won the Gogol prize in the "best humorous work" section.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mymovies.it/persone/paolo-villaggio/880/|title=Paolo Villaggio|access-date=16 December 2022|language=it}}</ref> Given the great success of the book, a film adaptation was created in which the role of the protagonist will be played by Villaggio himself.
== Character debut == The character makes his debut in Paolo Villaggio's monologues, in which he is quoted in the third person.<ref name="cgentertainment">{{cite web|url=https://www.cgentertainment.it/news/seneandatounpezzodinoiciaopaolovillaggio/|title=Se ne è andato un pezzo di noi: ciao Paolo Villaggio|access-date=16 December 2022|language=it|archive-date=16 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221216160624/https://www.cgentertainment.it/news/seneandatounpezzodinoiciaopaolovillaggio/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Villaggio made his debut on television in 1968 on the program ''Quelli della Domenica'', in the role of the character, the protagonist of [[Sketch comedy|sketches]] in which he tells humorous stories with a particular and characteristic lexicon of the character based on [[hyperbole]].<ref name="cgentertainment"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lavocedigenova.it/2019/11/29/leggi-notizia/argomenti/eventi-8/articolo/fantozzi-al-teatro-della-corte-per-lultimo-capitolo-della-rassegna-homo-ridens-teatro-in-pausa-pr.html|title="Fantozzi" al Teatro della Corte per l'ultimo capitolo della rassegna Homo Ridens-Teatro in Pausa Pranzo|access-date=16 December 2022|language=it}}</ref>
==The character== [[File:Liù Bosisio Fantozzi 2.png|thumb|Pina Fantozzi ([[Liù Bosisio]]), wife of Ugo Fantozzi, in the film ''[[Fantozzi (film)|Fantozzi]]'']] [[File:Anatrelli Reder Fantozzi.png|thumb|Surveyor Calboni ([[Giuseppe Anatrelli]], ''left'') and accountant Filini ([[Gigi Reder]], ''right''), colleagues of Ugo Fantozzi, in the film ''[[Fantozzi (film)|Fantozzi]]'']]
The character is a living hyperbole, an excess, in which the humanity of the character is overwhelmed by the misfortunes from which he is invested and to which he does not react in the slightest.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.futuroforense.eu/wp/2019/07/04/sveglia-e-caffe-barba-e-bide-presto-che-perdo-il-tram/|title=Sveglia e caffè, barba e bidé. Presto che perdo il tram|access-date=17 December 2022|language=it}}</ref> The mediocrity with which the character is described, which over time becomes the emblem of the overwhelmed man, inevitably leads to a representation of his vulgarity, with burping, foul language, negative attitudes (such as servility), which make it comical and tragic at the same time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pandorarivista.it/articoli/fantozzi/|title=Fantozzi: il comico e il tragico della piccola borghesia italiana|access-date=17 December 2022|language=it}}</ref> Another characteristic is that of continually apologizing and having to submit to everyone.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mantovafilmfestival.com/it/film/fantozzi/|title=Fantozzi|access-date=17 December 2022|language=it|archive-date=17 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221217143527/https://www.mantovafilmfestival.com/it/film/fantozzi/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The common denominator of all the events experienced by the character is the total inertia before fate, the impossibility of being able to dispute the adverse fate.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ticinolibero.ch/news/mixer/1301508/addio-a-villaggio-colui-che-creo-fantozzi-l-uomo-qualunque-con-una-vita-qualsiasi-e-una-nuvoletta-di-sfortuna|title=Addio a Villaggio, colui che creò Fantozzi, l'uomo qualunque con una vita qualsiasi e una nuvoletta di sfortuna|access-date=17 December 2022|language=it}}</ref>
His family, the only refuge from the oppression of a society that does not recognize him as an effective member except to exploit him, is made up of an insignificant and ugly wife, Pina Fantozzi, who does not love him but at best respects and pities him and has feelings of sufficiency for him, and a narrow-minded, monkey-looking daughter, Mariangela Fantozzi.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rumors.it/2020/03/27/fantozzi-45-anni-film/|title=45 anni fa la prima cinematografica di Fantozzi, il personaggio ideato e interpretato da Paolo Villaggio|access-date=17 December 2022|language=it}}</ref>
Fantozzi, despite the harassment, has as his only acquaintances his colleagues from the ''Megaditta'' ("Mega-Company"), whom he also frequents outside working hours. He takes time off with them, celebrates the New Year with them by participating in a party set up in a squalid basement in which a cheating orchestra conductor keeps the clocks moving forward and anticipates the celebration to be able to go and play at two parties, goes with them on itinerant trips in improvised campers, in improbable bicycle races, in football matches on muddy fields in the suburbs or in pathetic tennis matches, such as the one at six in the morning on a Sunday with a late-autumn character with the accountant Filini, who is in fact his best friend,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/spettacolo/fantozzi-debuttava-al-cinema-45-anni-fa-le-cose-da-sapere-sul-personaggio-inventato-da-paolo-villaggio_16627729-202002a.shtml|title="Fantozzi" debuttava al cinema 45 anni fa: le cose da sapere sul personaggio inventato da Paolo Villaggio|access-date=17 December 2022|language=it}}</ref> and with whom he also has an adventure by clumsy campers on the lake. Worthy of mention, among the other colleagues of the "Megaditta", is the surveyor Calboni, careerist and pimp towards his superiors, as well as unrepentant womanizer of the group.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cinepanettoni.it/geometra-calboni-insopportabile-colleghi-zerbino-superiori/|title=Il geometra Calboni: insopportabile con i colleghi e zerbino con i superiori|access-date=17 December 2022|language=it}}</ref>
Fantozzi always suffers harassment and mistreatment from colleagues and his superiors without ever complaining. However, in some rare cases he assumes attitudes of open rebellion, as in the film ''[[Fantozzi (film)|Fantozzi]]'', when he breaks a glass of the Megaditta with a stone, or as in ''[[Il secondo tragico Fantozzi]]'' when he attacks Professor Riccardelli.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mediasetinfinity.mediaset.it/movie/ilsecondotragicofantozzi/il-secondo-tragico-fantozzi_F000355501000101|title=Il secondo tragico Fantozzi|access-date=17 December 2022|language=it}}</ref>
Fantozzi's bad luck shows up even after he passes away (in the movie ''[[Fantozzi in paradiso]]''), as on the way to paradise, the divine airplane carrying him is hijacked by [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] terrorists seeking revenge for terrorism against them before death. In front of [[Buddha]], who comically decides using a [[La ruota della fortuna|wheel of fortune]] (which leads Fantozzi to refer to him as "[[Mike Bongiorno|Mike]]"), he is sentenced to living his whole previous life once again.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mymovies.it/film/1993/fantozzi-in-paradiso/|title=Fantozzi in paradiso|access-date=17 December 2022|language=it}}</ref>
The name of Fantozzi is for the first time satirically altered in "Fantocci", so called because it means "made of rags".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ugofantozzi.com/chie.html|title=Ugo Fantozzi|access-date=23 December 2022|language=it|archive-date=20 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151020025024/http://ugofantozzi.com/chie.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> His colleagues and managers continue to create more humiliating nicknames for Fantozzi: Pupazzi, Fantocci, Bambocci, Bagherozzi, Beccacci, Cagnacci, Mortacci, Fantozzo and Tozzi-Fan.<ref name="cittadinovara">{{Cite web|url=https://www.cittadinovara.com/fenomenologia-di-ugo-fantozzi/|title=Fenomenologia di Ugo Fantozzi|access-date=23 December 2022|language=it}}</ref> The surveyor Calboni instead nicknames Fantozzi "Puccettone".<ref name="cittadinovara"/>
==Setting== [[File:Paolo Paoloni Fantozzi.png|thumb|The "mega-director" of ''Megaditta'' ([[Paolo Paoloni]]) in the film ''[[Fantozzi (film)|Fantozzi]]'']]
Fantozzi's adventures and misadventures often take place in an unnamed city of [[Italy]] (usually filmed in [[Rome]]), while in the novels Fantozzi lives in [[Genoa]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lacronacadiroma.it/2022/05/fantozzi/|title=Alla scoperta della Roma del ragionier Ugo Fantozzi|access-date=17 December 2022|language=it}}</ref> Reality is often [[Surrealism|surreal]], with events apparently happening just for Fantozzi (and, sometimes, other character)'s bad luck, or bizarre titles attributed to characters, or even some strange phenomena such as the employer's clouds, all obviously played for the laughs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lanazione.it/firenze/cronaca/coppa-cobram-1.3302575|title=E' tornata la mitica Coppa Cobram di Fantozzi: risate in bici sui colli fiorentini|access-date=17 December 2022|language=it}}</ref> Notoriously, characters in the Fantozzi universe mistakenly conjugate [[Italian language|Italian-language]] verbs to [[Subjunctive mood|conjunctive]] in third-person singular (which, in feminine form, is used in Italian to speak formally, a form of speech overly used by characters in the series), saying, for example, the verb "to go" ([[Italian language|Italian]]: ''andare''), as ''vadi'' rather than the correct form ''vada''.<ref name="dizionaripiu">{{cite web|url=https://dizionaripiu.zanichelli.it/esame-di-stato/congiuntivi/|title=Congiuntivi|access-date=17 December 2022|language=it}}</ref> This erroneous form of speech, already present in Italian comedy films as early as in films by [[Totò]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latorre1905.it/video/toto-peppino-la-trascrizione-della-lettera-alla-malafemmina/|title=Totò, Peppino e la... (trascrizione della lettera alla) malafemmina|access-date=17 December 2022|language=it}}</ref> has become extremely famous and is usually linked to the character of Fantozzi.<ref name="dizionaripiu"/>
==Cultural impact== Fantozzi's films, albeit with irony, have anticipated the issues of [[mobbing]] in large companies, have made expressions such as "How human, you!", as well as the adjective ''fantozziano'', recorded in all Italian dictionaries<ref>The adjective has been attested in Italian since 1977: ''[[Il Devoto-Oli|Il Devoto-Oli. Vocabolario della lingua italiana]]'', [[Le Monnier (publishing house)|Le Monnier]], to the lemma "''fantozziano''".</ref> and to the expression ''alla Fantozzi'', locutions that arose to indicate experiences, attitudes or situations permeated by the character's own tragicomic air.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://moviestruckers.it/approfondimenti-film/paolo-villaggio-italia-piange-fantozzi/|title=Paolo Villaggio: l'Italia piange il "megaragioniere galattico"|access-date=17 December 2022|language=it}}</ref>
Curiously, the same fate also befell his colleague Filini, in the films the organizer of company after-work trips; "Filini organization" is a common expression to indicate botched events or events full of mishaps that would normally have been widely foreseeable.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.frb.valsamoggia.bo.it/biblioteche/ironia-paolo-villaggio-la-maschera-fantozzi/|title=Ironico e apotropaico: Paolo Villaggio e la maschera di Fantozzi|access-date=17 December 2022|language=it}}</ref>
==Acknowledgments== In July 2021, the municipality of Rome approved the installation of a commemorative plaque on the building of the [[ring road]] where the famous scene took place in which Ugo Fantozzi catches the bus to go to work.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fanpage.it/roma/una-targa-per-ricordare-la-scena-di-fantozzi-che-prende-lautobus-al-volo-in-tangenziale/|title=Una targa per ricordare la scena di Fantozzi che prende l'autobus al volo in Tangenziale|access-date=18 December 2022|language=it}}</ref>
== Books== *{{cite book|first=Paolo|last=Villaggio|title=Fantozzi|location=Milan|publisher=Rizzoli|year=1971|language=it}} *{{cite book|first=Paolo|last=Villaggio|title=Il secondo tragico libro di Fantozzi|location=Milan|publisher=Rizzoli|year=1974|language=it}} *{{cite book|first=Paolo|last=Villaggio|title=Le lettere di Fantozzi|location=Milan|publisher=Rizzoli|year=1976|language=it}} *{{cite book|first=Paolo|last=Villaggio|title=Fantozzi contro tutti|location=Milan|publisher=Rizzoli|year=1979|language=it}} *{{cite book|first=Paolo|last=Villaggio|title=Fantozzi subisce ancora|location=Milan|publisher=Rizzoli|year=1983|language=it}} *{{cite book|first=Paolo|last=Villaggio|title=Caro direttore, ci scrivo... : lettere del tragico ragioniere, raccolte da Paolo Villaggio|location=Milan|publisher=Mondadori|year=1993|language=it}} *{{cite book|first=Paolo|last=Villaggio|title=Fantozzi saluta e se ne va: le ultime lettere del rag. Ugo Fantozzi|location=Milan|publisher=Mondadori|year=1994|language=it}} *{{cite book|first=Paolo|last=Villaggio|title=Tragica vita del ragionier Fantozzi|location=Milan|publisher=Mondadori|year=2012|language=it}}
== Films== *''[[Fantozzi (film)|Fantozzi]]'', directed by [[Luciano Salce]] (1975) *''[[Il secondo tragico Fantozzi]]'', directed by Luciano Salce (1976) *''[[Fantozzi contro tutti]]'', directed by [[Neri Parenti]] (1980) *''[[Fantozzi subisce ancora]]'', directed by Neri Parenti (1983) *''[[Superfantozzi]]'', directed by Neri Parenti (1986) *''[[Fantozzi va in pensione]]'', directed by Neri Parenti (1988) *''[[Fantozzi alla riscossa]]'', directed by Neri Parenti (1990) *''[[Fantozzi in paradiso]]'', directed by Neri Parenti (1993) *''[[Fantozzi - Il ritorno]]'', directed by Neri Parenti (1996) *''[[Fantozzi 2000 - La clonazione]]'', directed by Domenico Saverni (1999)
==Graphic novel== * ''Fantozzi Forever'' (2014)
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Fantozzi}} {{Italian film genres}}
[[Category:Fictional Italian people|Fantozzi, Ugo]] [[Category:Fictional accountants]]