Borromini and Bernini: The Challenge of Perfection

A journey into the great beauty of Baroque Rome, when the city was the center of western art and where every ambitious painter, sculptor and architect had to be.

This is the story of the most famous artistic rivalry of all time, the one between Borromini and Bernini, but also the story of Borromini’s rivalry with himself: a genius so absorbed by his art that he turns it into a demon that devours him from the inside, forcing him to choose death to reach eternity.

Borromini deprived himself of everything to pursue a dream: to conquer Rome. It is the story of the architectural revolution of a solitary maestro who changed the appearance of Rome forever, by pushing himself to his limit, but also by battling conventions and prejudices, with the humility to learn from the past to invent the future, with the courage to pursue an idea despite knowing he would pay the price in the end.

Shot at the Barberini Palace, St. Peter’s canopy, San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Sant’Andrea al Quirinale, Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona, St. Peter’s colonnade and Villa Adriana, Tivoli.

Director: Giovanni Troilo (Frida. Viva la Vida)
Original music: Remo Anzovino
Production: Sky and Quoiat Films