The history of Italian cinema began with a few seconds footage of Pope Leo XIII blessing the camera. Historical dramas were most popular in these early years before sound. During and after WWI, funds were short and nothing much of interest was made until the 1920s. With the rise of fascism the film industry was encouraged and in 1937 Cinecitta was built on the outskirts of Rome. Literally a 'cinema city', it contained everything a film maker could need or want, including theatres, and even a cinematography school. The slogan on posters at the time read "Cinema is The Most Powerful Weapon". Newsreels and propagandistic documentaries were filmed here but by 1939, feature film productions were underway. Visconti ('Ossessione'), Rossellini (Rome, Open City') and De Sica ('Bicycle Thief') all began their careers here. Post-war, two distinct trends emerged in Italian cinema: on the one hand, the neo-realist films of Rossellini and De Sica, made chiefly on location in the streets of Rome and surrounding towns; and on the other, the American megaproductions, filmed almost entirely on sets constructed in the Cinecitta studios. In 1948, 'Quo Vadis?', 'Roman Holiday (1952), 'Three Coins in a Fountain' (1954), 'Farewell to Arms' (1957), 'Ben Hur' (1958) and 'Cleopatra' (1961), to cite only the most famous. Federico Fellini shot most of his films, at least in part at Cinecitta and to this day the studios are used for television and film productions. Mention must also be made of Pasolini, Bertolucci, Zeffirelli, Antonioni, Sergio Leone - Italy has given cinema some of its greatest individuals and auteurs. Pictured: The lost kisses from 'Cinema Paradiso'
A lavishly colorful baroque fantasy with Giulietts Masina (in real life Mrs Fellini) as a middle-aged woman haunted by hallucinations from her past an... Read more
Pier Paolo Pasolini's Biblical drama follows the life of Jesus Christ (Enrique Irazoqui) as depicted in the Gospel of Matthew from the New Testament.... Read more
Michelangelo Antonioni's first colour film is an intriguing study of alienation. Against the backdrop of a sterilized, impersonal industrial landscape... Read more
A prostitute has to use all her wits to get a client of long standing to take the plunge and marry her when he announces his forthcoming marriage to a... Read more
A totally original Italian version of the story of Christ, using only the words and scenes described by St Matthew. Director Pasolini, an avowed marxi... Read more
As Garibaldi's troops begin the unification of Italy in the 1860s, an aristocratic Sicilian family grudgingly adapts to the sweeping social changes un... Read more
Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido Anselmi, a director whose new project is collapsing around him, along with his life. One of the greatest films about... Read more
AKA 'Il Gattopardo'. This magnificent spectacle, and one of the finest 'scope' movies ever made, is set in 1860 Sicily and focuses on an aristocrat wh... Read more
Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido Anselmi, a director whose new project is collapsing around him, along with his life. One of the greatest films about... Read more
Pier Paolo Pasolini's neo-realist masterpiece stars the great Anna Magnani ('Open City') as a middle-aged prostitute who saves money to buy an apartme... Read more