“Andy Warhol – Federico Fellini – Federico Wardal”: a case of “muses”

This is a special story, one that emerged after a full 50 years.

About two years ago, an Instagram fan of mine, who knew I had been an inspiration to my mentor Federico Fellini and vice versa, sent me an Andy Warhol collage. My fan asked me if it was me in the photo, below the one of Liza Minnelli, second from the right, in a famous Andy Warhol collage, which also features Sylvester Stallone.

I replied to her that it wasn’t me, fully noticing that the Andy Warhol’s model in the photo appeared like a lookalike of me, wearing makeup, clothes, and attire like me at the time. The conversation between me and my Instagram fan was public and spread across social media and elsewhere, becoming popular. This is the real story. In the 70s, my photos (aka Wardal, my real name is Federico di Wardal) reached Federico Fellini and Andy Warhol via the film agencies of Franco Brel and Yvette Louis. Fellini chose me as the “adolescent alter ego of Casanova” in the first edition of his film “Casanova”, then entirely stolen, shortly before it appeared on the screens and then reshot.

Andy Warhol requested a contract from my manager Mr. Drago to be able to use my image in his compositions, but the agreement did not come to fruition. Surprisingly, it now appears, as I said, that Andy Warhol’s model Mrs. Iris, strongly resembling me, dressed and made up like me, was included in the attached photo, in the same period in which my image was exclusive to Federico Fellini. Fellini had chosen me not only because my aesthetic characteristics fit into his imaginative world , but also for my “metaphysical” personality, but at the same time intense and physical. My image, however, also fit into Warhol’s imaginative world, aside from my personality.

Both Fellini and Warhol always chose characters that no one forgets, and this is certainly positive for me, since for 50 years I have continued to galvanize audiences. But there is one aspect or challenge that has always fascinated me: the power to cancel or obscure my image, when I perform a show, through intense, pregnant acting. That said, Federico Fellini requested me not only as an “image,” but also as an actor, giving me the opportunity to express myself through acting, while Andy Warhol focused only on my special facial expression and my look, and rightly so, since Fellini is a great film director and Andy Warhol is, I think, above all a great visual artist.

For an artist who has a galvanizing image, everything can become very difficult, since producers make you play roles that are more linked to the image and not to the abilities and skills of an actor. It is truly a hard struggle to impose on producers roles that we artists believe in, roles that we feel and love. 

In my case, I have been very lucky because I have inspired many directors, authors, writers, poets of different genres, ages, cultures who wanted me in roles that I have immensely loved. The names? Federico Fellini, Carlo Lizzani, Alberto Bevilacqua, Dario Bellezza, Mario Fratti, Franco Cuomo and now Enrico Bernard with the film “Lila” (A Monster Called Lila) https://youtu.be/aURAiSWSK1Y?si=Oqv5RbnlOfRbhrDQ. But also young and very young talents from California, Egypt, Italy , they are inspired by me.

This entire “story” turns 50 this year and will be celebrated in Italy in Pompeii, an ancient city and archaeological site, from December 3 to 13, 2025, during the sixth edition of the Vesuvius Film Festival (vesuviusfilmfestival.it), dedicated to my mentor Federico Fellini. The festival is chaired by Giovanna D’Amodio. I, who always love to act, not just to appear, will give the performance: “FELLINI’s Dream,” directed by the president of the Historical Archive of Italian Cinema, the authoritative film critic Graziano Marraffa. Key partners of the Vesuvius Film Festival are the Vesuvius National Park Authority, chaired by Raffaele De Luca, and ANILDD, chaired by engineer Lino Marasco.

The foreign films in the international section of the film festival are highly anticipated, such as “Kamilah the Miracle Filly” by Angela Alioto, with Joe Mantegna as narrator, and the other film is “Anita” by Wardal and Ceccomori, with Wardal and music by Andrea Ceccomori. The film is under the auspices of the national Giuseppe Garibaldi association, chaired by the descendant of the hero Francesco Garibaldi Hibbert, a special guest of the film festival. https://youtu.be/VMBSioZfN-U?si=f-h04f_CAYd40RVx. I will be accompanied by Maria Luisa Lo Monte, an international television personality. At the Vesuvius Film Festival, a photographic exhibition on Fellini and I will be inaugurated, with photos by the famous Pierluigi Praturlon, but we will also talk about Andy Warhol and the story I told you.