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Italian neorealism was meant to be a genre populated by non-professional actors, but Anna Magnani was the exception that proved the rule. Despite her stardom, her bawdy ebullience, earthy intensity and resolute lack of glamour made her the perfect emblem for a cinematic movement centred around ordinary Italians dealing with the tough realities of l...

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Italian women. What’s the first thing that comes to mind? Stylish. Hard working. Sophisticated. Loud. Beautiful. Revolutionary. Passionate. On this International Women’s Day, March 8 2024, we look at some of the most remarkable “donne italiane” throughout the history of Italy. From politicians and scientists to artists and fashion designers, these...

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Gina Lollobrigida’s death on January 16, 2023, inspired us to look back and reflect on an extraordinary era of Italian cinema that spans the neorealism of the 1940s to the early 1970s. During that time, numerous directors with different styles brought Italy to life on the big screen, and the actresses became as well-known around the world as any Ho...

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Federico: This lady coming home, skirting the wall of this ancient patrician palace, is a Roman actress, Anna Magnani, perhaps the symbol of the city. Anna: Who am I? Federico: Rome seen as she-wolf and vestal, aristocratic and ragged, gloomy and buffoonish… I could go on until tomorrow morning. Anna: A Federì [“Federico” in Roman dialect], go to s...

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If you’re unfamiliar with the tale of Rome’s beginnings, it’s a powerful story with an underlying matriarchal theme. The legend is that Rhea Silva, a Vestal Virgin birthed twin sons named Romulus and Remus, and was soon forced to abandon them due to threats against their lives. Intercepted from the Tiber river by the god Tiberius, the twins were sa...

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Filmmaker Enrico Cerasuolo recounts the life of Anna Magnani, Italy's great screen legend, who embodied the bare-faced, post-war honesty of Italian neo-realism and became a symbol of the city of Rome itself.With an indelible catalog of her must-see films and a well-chosen selection of historical interviews, the opinions of Marlon Brando, Luchino Vi...

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Napolean Bonapart said, "There are only two forces that unite men - fear and interest." It is said Anna Magnani possessed both. Born into poverty to a teenage mother in Rome on March 7, 1908, her unwed mother, Marina Magnani, left Anna with her grandparents to be raised. Anna, a precocious and streetwise child at the age of 7, was sent to a French...

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The Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York will host two screenings of Italian classic films. Ermanno Olmi's 1978 film, The Tree of the Wooden Clogs, will be shown as part of the Labor Film Series. The film reflects Olmi's deep understanding of the rhythms of life and labor of northern Italy’s peasants and his commitment to them. Winner of the Palme...

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Towards the end of Enrico Cerasuolo’s The Passion of Anna Magnani, Marcello Mastroianni — who co-starred with Magnani in the film 1870 — calls her “the greatest actress we ever had,” a judgment most viewers will agree with. Though it certainly whets the appetite, this one-hour recap of her stage and film career is too brief to get at the heart of I...

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This Thursday the San Diego Italian Film Festival (SDIFF) will showcase the neorealist classic, “Rome Open City” ("Roma città aperta") at the Museum of Photographic Arts in honor of Italian Liberation Day. The neorealist movement began after World War II as Italian filmmakers looked to telling stories of ordinary people struggling to survive in a c...

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