Fantaghirò

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Fantaghirò
The Cave of the Golden Rose (French edition)
Directed by	Lamberto Bava
Produced by	Roberto Bessi
Written by	Francesca Melandri
Starring	Alessandra Martines Kim Rossi Stuart Brigitte Nielsen
Music by	Amedeo Minghi
Release date(s)	1991 - 1996
Country	Italy
Language	Italian
IMDb profile

Fantaghirò is an Italian fantasy film series consisting of five television movies that were released between 1991 and 1996. It was produced by Reteitalia Productions and directed by Lamberto Bava, and filmed in the Czech Republic; the music of the series was written by Amedeo Minghi. The cult success of the film series lead director Lamberto Bava to make a few other television movies in this style, including Desideria e l'Anello del Drago (also known as Desideria), La Principessa e il Povero (also known as The Princess and the Pauper) and Sorellina e il principe del sogno (also known Princess Alisea). The movie series also lead to the creation of an animated television series also titled Fantaghirò.

The series takes place in a typical fairytale and fantasy setting, featuring princesses, princes, witches, wizards and talking animals.

Contents 1 Cast 2 Story 2.1 Fantaghirò 2.2 Fantaghirò 2 2.3 Fantaghirò 3 2.4 Fantaghirò 4 2.5 Fantaghirò 5 3 Trivia

[edit] Cast

Actress	Character	1	2	3	4	5
Alessandra Martines	Fantaghirò	X	X	X	X	X
Kim Rossi Stuart	Romualdo	X	X	X
Mario Adorf	King	X	X
Brigitte Nielsen	Black Queen / Black Witch		X	X	X	X
Nicholas Rogers	Tarabas			X	X
Ursula Andress	Xellesia			X	X
Angela Molina	White Witch / White Knight	X
Horst Buchholz	Darken				X
Lenca Kubalkova	Bolt		X	X
Jakub Zdenek	Lightning		X	X
Stefano Davanzati	Cataldo	X	X
Tomás Valík	Ivaldo	X	X
Ornella Marcucci	Catherina/Catherine	X
Katerina Brozova	Carolina/Caroline	X	X	X
Barbora Kodekova	Catherina/Catherine		X	X
Anna Geislerová	Queen of the Elfs		X	X
Barbora Kodetová	White Witch		X
Karel Roden	Goldeye		X
Elena D'Ippolito	Smeralda			X
Agathe de La Fontaine	Anjelica				X

[edit] Story

[edit] Fantaghirò

The story is about Fantaghirò, the rebellious youngest daughter of a warrior king. Although the women in the kingdom are supposed to do proper womenly things like cook, sew and be loyal to their husband, Fantaghirò wants to fight. When the neighbouring enemy kingdom sends an offer of a single duel to determine the outcome of the war, the King is told by the magical White Witch that only one of his daughters can win the duel and bring peace to the two kingdoms. Fantaghirò, with her two sisters Catherina and Carolina, dress up as knights and are sent to the duel, but in the end her sisters return and Fantaghirò is left to face the enemy King Romualdo on her own.

[edit] Fantaghirò 2

Fantaghirò and Romualdo are due to be married, but the evil Dark Witch of the Dark Kingdom is plotting to ruin their love affair. The Dark Witch kidnaps Fantaghirò's father and holds him hostage, and the news arrives back at the kingdom just as Fantaghirò and Romualdo are about to take their vows. The couple decide to hold off their wedding, and Romualdo leads their army to save Fantaghirò's father. But unknown to Romualdo, Fantaghirò secretly dresses up as a man and sets out to the Dark Kingdom to help. But a shock comes to Fantaghirò when she realises the Dark Witch's true intentions

[edit] Fantaghirò 3

The evil wizard Tarabas learns of a prophecy that a royal child no older than ten is destined to detroy his evil kingdom. Shocked to learn that he isn't invincible, Tarabas sends his clay soldiers out to kidnap all the royal children of the world. Among the children he targets are the babies of Catherina and Caroline, Fantaghirò's sisters. Fantaghirò and Romualdo protect the babies from the clay soldiers, but in the process Romualdo accidentally falls into a cursed river and turns into a stone statue. Fantaghirò then learns that the only way to save her beloved is to seek out Tarabas and get him to give her the only thing that can undo the curse: "The Impossible Kiss".

[edit] Fantaghirò 4

A black cloud is travelling across the land, bringing death and destruction. Fantaghirò is helping the people of her kingdom escape to safety when she crosses paths with young Prince Parsel, whose castle has been taken away. When the black cloud passes over Fantaghirò's castle, it too disappears, so she joins with Parsel to search for the origins of the black cloud and find a way to stop it. They travel to another kingdom and find that Tarabas, the reformed dark wizard, has been captured and is accused of having conjured the black cloud. They help him escape, and together with Princess Anjelica, they travel to Darken's kingdom where they find the source of the black cloud.

[edit] Fantaghirò 5

[edit] Trivia

• The movie series is alternately titled The Cave of the Golden Rose.
• Many scenes were filmed in Bouzov Castle, Pernštejn Castle and Lednice in Czech Republic as well as in Bojnice Castle, Slovakia.
• The series has been dubbed in English, French and German.
• In the English-dubbed version of the first movie, Fantaghirò is referred to as Phantagarow.
• Lenca Kubalkova, who plays young Carolina in Fantaghirò returns to play Bolt in Fantaghirò 2 and 3.
• There was also an animated Fantaghirò series made in Spain by BRB Internacional.