Lino Banfi, 90 years of cinema and love for Puglia

“Banfi he has almost become cultured, as if I had secretly obtained some degree”. With his usual irony, Lino Banfi thus closed his meeting with the public at Bif&st 2026returning to reflect on his own career and on the connection with the Puglia in Italian cinema.

“What years ago were considered ‘cooked and tycoon’ films – he said – today have become gods cult“. Then the joke, in perfect Banfio style: “I started out as a janitor, I ended up as a principal, all I needed was the superintendent of studies. In short, there was a teaching career for me too.”

(video by Viviana Minervini – AGI)

The actor explained that he would do those again today filmperhaps “with more care and more time”, but without denying the value. “It was a good sowing – he observed – and this is the harvest I am reaping today, with the peace of a forty-year-old”. Then the final lunge, between irony and tenderness: “Then I think: but how is it possible that I arrived at ninety years without damage? I am ninety years old without damage or ailment. And this, with rhymes, is the thing that matters most.”

The role of Lino Banfi for Puglia

Banfi then responded to a question about his role in bringing the Puglia on the big and small screenlong before the national success of others Apulian artists. “Yes, let’s say that in some way I paved the way,” he said, clarifying however that the Apulian talent he was then able to walk alone and well. “When I talk about Puglia – he added – I don’t just mean Bari or my land, but the whole region. There are some real ones genes“.

The talent of Pio and Amedeo

Among these he mentioned Pio and Amedeoremembering its journey from the beaches and street parties to cinema and national television. “I saw them grow, I know them well, I also had the pleasure of working with them,” he explained.

Checco Zalone, a powerhouse

Finally, the reference to Checco Zalonedefined by Banfi as a “power” capable of arriving “immediately at hearts of people” but also “al heart of the box office“, with a formula that holds together popularity, intelligence and ability to speak to a very large audience.