Un'autentica peste

Un'autentica peste (also known as Cecco della Botte) is one of two Italian dubs of El Chavo del Ocho. It has previously aired on Rete A. This was the second Italian dubbing produced for the show, which was made in Rome for nationwide broadcast in Italy. It is the most recognized dubbing of the program in this language, and therefore, it is the most documented.

The dubbing is currently hosted on YouTube, on the unofficial channel Cecco della botte / Un'autentica peste.

Broadcast[]

After its first broadcast in Lombardy with a Milanese dubbing, the series would be broadcast on the Rete A channel, with a redubbing done in Rome, in prime time at 8:30 PM, just before the nightly infomercials block, being released on September 7, 1987. The channel, known for showing foreign packaged content, along with infomercials, gained national fame for showing various Mexican Televisa telenovelas from the 1980s and late 1970s, thanks to an exclusivity agreement. It is known that the last airing of the series on the channel was on May 1, 1992, before the channel abandoned Mexican telenovelas and became an exclusive infomercial channel.

Cast[]

Character		Actor
Un'autentica peste
	Cecco	Mino Caprio
	Chicco	Giorgio Lopez
	Sor Romeo^[2]	Piero Tiberi
	Giuletta	Liliana Jovino
	Giuletta	Adriana Vianello
	Cirillina	Monica Ward
	Professor Cacciaballe	Michele Kalamera
	Sig.na Bella Venere a.k.a. La Strega dell'interno Settantuno (71)	Francesco Vairano
	Signor Baciccia	Angelo Nicotra
	Gnocco	unknown
	Gongolo	unknown
	Popi	Antonella Rendina
	Malizia	Eleonora de Angelis
I ladri
	Tacchino	Mino Caprio
	Bocconcino	Piero Tiberi
	Poliziotto	Giorgio Lopez

Technical staff
Dubbing director		Giorgio Lopez
Translation/Adaptation		Consuelo Aranyi
Mimma Aranyi
Assistant		Francesca R. Latini
Technical development		Carlo Carloni
Maurizio Gualerni
Montage		Marinella Carloni
Montage assistant		Simona Silvestri
Electronic processing		LVR - Rome

Opening[]

Credits[]

Trivia[]

The Italian intro tries to be like the original, being introduced by a voice-over. The difference is, that in Italian, each actor introduces his character with his voice.
- The OST, despite the fact that it is different from the one used in the original version of the program, is based on several musical themes used in the background by a program by Roberto Gómez Bolaños called "Chespirito", a sketch program that brought together various characters from the Mexican comedian, and that it was a contemporary series of that time. Among the themes used are “A Blessed Event”, a theme used by Chespirito in his first productions in the early 70s, possibly because it is a well-known theme in Italy (the theme is by the Italian composer Riz Ortolani); and the first musical theme of the aforementioned series "Chespirito", as the default ending theme (although there was a generic ending theme with the same opening theme, which would end up being used). Even in many long scenes without dialogue, at the beginning or in the middle of the episode, the original soundtrack remains unchanged. The OST was partially changed because, different from what happened in Brazil, the series was sent to Italy with an international track for its dubbing made by Televisa, with other tracks probably to avoid copyright. In fact, much of the soundtrack used for the dubbing was taken from the Valentino Production Music Library, which specialized in creating BGMs for television series, many of the songs used in the original series being taken from that library. Among these songs we can mention: "Happy Homes", and "Boston Baby Bounce", which are commonly used in the Italian dubbing, and which were part of the original soundtrack of both El Chavo and Chapulín Colorado. Moreover, the opening theme song “The Elephant Never Forgets” remains unchanged. In the credits, an audio of said song with background applause is usually used, which is taken from the first seasons of the El Chavo series, at a time when the series was recorded with a live audience, at the beginning of the 70s.
- In post-production, a series of special effects were created that were absent in the original version. The recorded laughs of the original version, which were kept in most of the dubbings in Brazil, were replaced by a sequence of new laughs, which are heard with better sound quality (although, the original laughs and original OST can be heard in certain scenes without dialogue, many of which are left intact in this version). Also, in the Italian dub other sound effects are added that the series originally did not have, such as bird songs when the characters are outdoors; sounds of cars when they are on the street, etc. Along with this, sounds of falling objects or liquids are added. From the original audio, unlike the Brazilian dub, if the same bell effect is used when the characters hit each other (sometimes (with) a drum hit), although it is notorious that said sound effect was not superimposed in audio post-production, which causes there to be moments when that is heard lower than normal by mistake.
Despite being a woman, Doña Clotilde is voiced in Italian by a man. The character is played with a marked Neapolitan accent.
This version has a series of modifications, compared to the original version, resorting mainly to the change of names, as in the Brazilian version.
For several years, almost all this dub was Lost Media, and there were only few fragments available. Only in 2023, a series of chapters, recorded at the time, have appeared on the Internet.
The series had an acceptable reception in its time, and it is remembered mainly by children, young people or even adults, who saw it in its day in the 80s, but it is practically unknown to young Italians. In Italy, the series is considered cult, and it is the one that has made Roberto Gómez Bolaños recognized in the country, where he is known as one of the most important comedians in Mexico.
Until 2024, it was not known that there were actually two dubbings, something that was clarified that year by Antonio Genna, on his site "Il Mondo del Doppiatori".

Notes[]

↑ http://www.radiocorriere.teche.rai.it/Download.aspx?data=1992%7C17%7C84%7CI
↑ The mispronounciation of the character's name by Chavo, which was Ron Damón in the original version, has been localized as Orsomeo. The "Sor" in his dub name is a Roman dialect variation of "Signor", which means "Mr." in Italian.

External links[]

v - e - d

Dubs
Italian (Milanese dub • Roman dub) • Brazilian Portuguese (MAGA • Studio Gábia • Rio Sound/DuBrasil • SDVC/UniDub)

[1] ttp://www.radiocorriere.teche.rai.it/Download.aspx?data=1992%7C17%7C84%7CI

[2] The mispronounciation of the character's name by Chavo, which was Ron Damón in the original version, has been localized as Orsomeo. The "Sor" in his dub name is a Roman dialect variation of "Signor", which means "Mr." in Italian.

[1]

[2]