For the 35th Academy Awards in 1962, La Dolce Vita was not submitted by Italy for best foreign-language film. Instead, Nanni Loy's The Four Days of Naples got the nomination. Perhaps the Italians felt that Federico Fellini's eighth film, which centered on a gossip columnist (Marcello Mastroianni) wandering into fountains with Anita Ekberg and partaking in Rome's high life, had received too much publicity already.

The Vatican paper L'Osservatore had called Vita "disgusting," and the Church's Centro Cattolico Cinematografico ratings board gave it an "E" for "Escluso," meaning it was "unsuitable for all." American critics, though, were more receptive. "This is a great picture," gushed The Hollywood Reporter in its review. "Italian neo-realism, which breathed fresh air into the post-war period … is back in business with a very big one."