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'
An introverted man's life changes completely when he finds himself attracted to a young bar-maid. Read more
Taking place over 20 years and across two continents, this epic miniseries adaptation of Nino Ricci's coming-of-age saga chronicles how a young man de... Read more
Terence Hill stars in this award-winning and popular Italian detective series as Father Matteo, a 'special' investigator whose profound knowledge of t... Read more
As proprietor of a bookshop in Genoa, the warm and intelligent Agatha dispenses literary wisdom to her adoring customers. When a younger man heeds her... Read more
A surgeon recalls the crucial moments of his life as his own teenage daughter lies on the operating table, hovering between life and death in this ten... Read more
An engrossing and intimate epic, originally produced as a miniseries for Italian television, following the divergent paths taken by brothers Nicola (L... Read more
A young working-class wife and mother, Giovanna, has no time for the senile elderly man her husband has rescued from the streets. But as she uncovers... Read more
A.k.a. "Remember Me, My Love". This finely judged, complex drama is about two generations in an Italian family. Carlo (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) and Giuli... Read more
Something sinister is lurking under the surface of 10-year-old Michele's (Giuseppe Cristiano) idyllic summer. While the days in his remote southern It... Read more
Aka "Il Cuore Altrove". Nello Balocchi, a 35-year-old teacher of Greek and Latin, shy and reserved by nature, is invited to Bologna by his father Cesa... Read more