NERO AND THE BURNING OF ROME

Original Italian Set of 10 13 1/4 inch x 19 1/4 inch Photobustas for the 1953 Primo Zeglio Italian Historical Drama NERO AND THE BURNING OF ROME (NERONE E MESSALINA), based on the novel by David Bluhmen and starring Gino Cervi, Paola Barbara, Carlo Tamberlani, Milly Vitale, Ludmilla Dudarova, Silvana Jachino, Yvonne Sanson and Renzo Ricci.

The dissolute Nero has come to the imperial throne through the machinations of his mother Julia Agrippina, whom he later murders. Among his other prominent victims are his tutor Seneca the Younger and his first two wives, Claudia Octavia and Poppea Sabina. One of his mistresses, the slave girl Claudia Acte, is portrayed in the film as a Christian who introduces the emperor to their teachings and flees on learning her lover’s identity. During this upheaval, Nero overturns a lamp, which leads to the burning of Rome. This he blames on the Christians and orders a general persecution, in which Acte dies. When the populace eventually rises against him, Nero takes refuge with one of his freedmen and is killed by a slave.

The photobustas are in good to very good condition, some with pinholes.