La Dolce Vita

Fellini’s 1960 classic on “the sweet life” of 1950s Rome, when the Eternal City was a hotspot for international glitterati. Marcello Mastroianni plays a reporter sucked into this decadent lifestyle, while a character named Paparazzo, snapping stars at Via Veneto cafés, gave a name to his occupation.

Fellini’s Roma

Fellini’s 1972 tribute to his adopted home town. Rome’s heritage gets in the way of modernization, and the absurdity of the Vatican is shown in a frighteningly funny papal fashion show. Fellini built a highway at the Cinecittà studios so he could film rush hour without the bother of real traffic.

Ben Hur

The original big budget ($50 million) gladiator epic from 1959. William Wyler directed Charlton Heston as a Jewish prince betrayed into slavery. He bares his chest, wins his freedom and engages in a chariot race that has influenced every cinematic race since. The film won 11 Academy Awards.

The Bicycle Thieves

The ultimate neo-realist film, Vittorio de Sica’s 1948 work is a recreated documentary of late 1940s Rome. An honest family man struggling to make ends meet in postwar Rome watches everything fall apart when his precious bicycle, so necessary for his livelihood, is stolen and he tries to track it down.

Cleopatra

Despite the lavish sets and costumes, a cast of thousands and Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton steaming up the place, Joseph Mankiewicz’s 1963 epic was one of Hollywood’s first spectacular box office flops.

Rome, Open City

Powerful 1946 drama about the Roman Resistance during World War II. Roberto Rossellini tried to create a documentary feel, filming in the streets mere months after the war ended, using real soldiers and recreating actual events. A young Fellini helped write the script.

Roman Holiday

Romantic comedy which made a star of newcomer Audrey Hepburn in 1953, when she won the Academy Award as a rebellious princess who runs around the city with Gregory Peck, a penniless writer.

Caro Diario

This most personal of films (1994) opens with the director, Nanni Moretti, riding his scooter around suburban Rome.

Life is Beautiful

Surprisingly successful 1998 mix of comedy and fable set against Nazi-occupied Italy. Writer/director Roberto Begnini’s Jewish bookseller uses comedy to shield his son from the horror of their Nazi concentration camp by pretending it’s all a big game. It won three Academy Awards.

Gangs of New York

Hollywood director Martin Scorsese spent $100 million to recreate 1840s New York and an ocean liner at the Cinecittà studios for his 2002 film.

Federico Fellini

The five-time Academy Award-winner (1920–1993) embodied styles from neo-realism to magico-realism.

Roberto Rossellini

Neo-realist master director (1906–77) of Rome, Open City and Paisà.

Vittorio De Sica

De Sica (1901–74) was the founder of neo-realism, with films such as Shoeshine and Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

Luchino Visconti

Visconti (1906–1976) is most famous for filming The Leopard and Death in Venice.

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Poet, Communist and film-maker (1922–75). Filmed notorious versions of Oedipus Rex and The Decameron.

Sergio Leone

Leone (1929–89) turned Italy into America’s Wild West and Clint Eastwood into a star with “spaghetti westerns” such as A Fistful of Dollars.

Michelangelo Antonioni

Antonioni (b.1912) helped create the Italian New Wave (Red Desert) and has enjoyed Hollywood success (Blow Up).

Nanni Moretti

Often autobiographical writer/director (b.1953), likened to Woody Allen.

Bernardo Bertolucci

Poet and film-maker (b.1941). After great success outside Italy he returned home for Stealing Beauty.

Roberto Benigni

Writer-director-actor (b.1952), often using slapstick, achieved worldwide fame with Life is Beautiful.