The Great Artistic Beauty of Rome and its ancient history have inspired many film directors to shoot “ciak” which later became world famous. And it is no coincidence that the first CinecittĂ film production center was born in Rome.
Let’s find out together, in chronological order, some famous films.
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ROME OPEN CITY
1945 film by Roberto Rossellini with a great Anna Magnani. Set during the German occupation, the film offers many historical views of the city, including the Square Colosseum of the Eur district, a symbol of the fascist regime, which stands out in the background during a partisan ambush of German troops.
- QUO VADIS
1951 film set in Rome, during the reign of Nero, in the summer of 64 AD. and 68 AD, against the backdrop of the conflict between Christianity and corruption in the government of the Roman Empire. The film had 8 nominations at the 1952 Oscars, and has the distinction for the largest number of costumes used, about 32,000, in a single film. For Best Supporting Actor, Peter Ustinov was awarded the Golden Globe.
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ROMAN HOLIDAYS
Romantic comedy of 1953, where the beautiful Audrey Hepburn plays the role of a bored princess who, to discover the beauties of Rome, runs away from her bodyguards. She falls in love with a handsome American journalist, played by Gregory Peck, who, aboard a Vespa, will visit the entire city. The film was shot a lot in the famous Via Margutta, but the ice cream scenes on the Spanish Steps, at the Colosseum, the joke at the Bocca della VeritĂ and the night scene on the boat along the Tiber are memorable.
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THE SWEET LIFE
Famous film and winner of “La Palma d’Oro” at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, by the equally famous Italian director Federico Fellini. The film shows Rome through the eyes of a gossip journalist, played by the great Marcello Mastroianni, who discovers the beauties of the city. Magnificent visions of the capital in the 1960s, from San Pietro to Via Veneto and Piazza del Popolo, without forgetting the famous phrase by Anita Ekberg while bathing in the Trevi Fountain: “Marcello, come here!”.
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THE MARQUIS DEL GRILLO
1981 film by “Maestro” Mario Monicelli, starring the Marquis Onofrio del Grillo, masterfully played by Alberto Sordi. A film that traces the events, uses and customs of Papal Rome in the early nineteenth century. The Marquis del Grillo, Pope Pius VII‘s secret waiter, organizes pranks and frequents taverns and taverns to escape boredom. A scene of the film of historical interest is that of the execution of Don Bastiano, where the Marquis and the French Olympia are filmed with the gallows in the background and Castel Sant’Angelo as a frame in the scenario.
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GLADIATOR
Winner of 5 Oscars, this 2000 Colossal, shot by Ridley Scott starring Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix, tells the story of the faithful general Massimo Decimo Meridio, who is betrayed when the ambitious son of the emperor, Commodus, assassinates his father to seize the throne. Maximus, now reduced to a slave, returns to the Colosseum arena as a gladiator avenging the murder of his family and his emperor. He will be the most famous gladiator in Rome, becoming a legend.
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ANGELS AND DEMONS
Based on the novel by Dan Brown and directed by Ron Howard in 2009, with a masterful Tom Hanks. Hanks, plays an American Harvard professor who, trying to solve a mysterious murder case, finds himself foiling a terrorist plot against the Vatican. The film is a sequel to “The Da Vinci Code” and is shot in some of the most evocative places in Rome such as St. Peter’s Basilica, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona and Piazza del Popolo.
- TO COME WITH LOVE
Woody Allen‘s 2012 film, with a high level cast like Roberto Benigni, Alec Baldwin and Penelope Cruz. The film is a tribute to the Eternal City with wonderful scenes shot in the city center. Immersed in the extraordinary atmospheres and environments of Rome, you experience the life and loves of some tourists and residents of the capital. The film also had two nominations for the “Silver Ribbons”.
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THE GREAT BEAUTY
Directed by Paolo Sorrentino in 2013, it won the Oscar for best foreign film, the Golden Globe for best photography and several “Nastri d’Argento”. The scenographic choices of photography and editing make the capital even more beautiful, depriving it of any manifestation of decay. The protagonist is a novelist, played by Tony Servillo, who reflects on his own life, questioning himself among living rooms, terraces and various Roman locations. The film then unfolds in these locations between the Parco degli Acquedotti, the Baths of Caracalla and the courtyard of the Palazzo Nuovo in Piazza del Campidoglio.
