His satirical caricature of the Roman Emperor Nero (created in 1917 and later the subject of a 1930 film) was widely perceived as a parody of Benito Mussolini, although it may itself have influenced the mannerisms of the Fascist dictator.

[10] Back from a successful tour in South America, Petrolini was hired in 1910 by Giuseppe Jovinelli for his theater in Piazza Guglielmo Pepe that had opened in 1909 with a performance by Raffaele Viviani.

Petrolini was so flattered by the admiration of the Futurists that he participated in some of their public events performing texts of Marinetti, Bruno Corra and Emilio Settimelli.

The collaboration culminated in Radioscopia di un duetto ("Radioscopy of a duet"), a one-act play co-written with the Futurist writer and painter Francesco Cangiullo in 1918.

In 1930, with the advent of sound films, Petrolini returned to the cinema as a protagonist of Nerone by Alessandro Blasetti, and also featuring Criner in the part of Poppea.

Cortile was released the following year in a double bill with Il Medico per forza, Campogalliania and Petronelli's spoof version of Molière's farce Le Médecin malgré lui.

Petrolini's work as a playwright became richer and more complex over the years: from the first macchiette (i.e. comic musical monologues caricaturing stock characters), to the successful one-act plays Amori de notte and Romani de Roma to the late comedies such as Gastone, Il padiglione delle meraviglie, Benedetto fra le donne ("Blessed among women"), and Chicchignola.

Now famous, Petrolini left Italy for a series of tours abroad, first to Cairo and the Italian colonies of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, and then, in 1934, to London, Berlin, and Paris.

Gastone was both a parody of the stars of the declining world of silent films and of singers of the time, such as Gino Franzi, with their repertory of dramatic songs lamenting sad farewells and unrequited loves.

Another character that started as a skit – "l'Antico romano" – was Nerone, who developed as a parody both of imperial political rhetoric and of the emphatic declamatory style of the "great actors" of the day.

His most famous song, originally recorded in 1932, with music by Alberto Simeoni,[7] is undoubtedly Tanto pe' cantà, which evokes an uncomplicated vision of life.

On 19 July 1943, during the first bombing of Rome, his tomb – a rectangular chapel – was hit, breaking the marble bust and severely damaging the coffin containing the remains of the actor.

The renovated tomb bears the epitaph "Dalla bocca tua cantò l'anima di Roma" ("The soul of Rome sang from your mouth").

[n 3] [24] Petrolini influenced future generations of Italian comic actors, including Alberto Sordi, Carlo Verdone and Gigi Proietti.

[27] The film was directed by Sordi's old friend Mario Bonnard, the man who is thought to have provided the original inspiration for Petrolini's iconic character.