Top 10 Best Italian Films

After the war, Italian film was dominated for a while by so-called neorealism. This meant films that were about the poor underclass and were filmed in an austere style. Many neorealist films used amateurs as actors, such as Vittorio De Sica's Ladri di biciclette, which did not feature any professional actors. Just after the war there is high unemployment and when Antonio Ricci can get a job as a poster painter, he seizes the opportunity. The condition is that he owns a bicycle and that is actually stolen. Together with his son Bruno, Antonio goes looking for the bicycle. Their search leads to an unforgettable experience

The title of this Fellini film has become almost synonymous with Italian life. The apparently superficial journalist Marcello feels at home in the chaotic nightlife of Rome. This is in sharp contrast to his fiancée, who attempts suicide early in the film. When Marcello follows the Swedish actress Sylvia for a report, he once again becomes entangled in a world of temptation and emptiness. The iconic scene in the Trevi Fountain became film history. Over the course of the film, Marcello is overcome by boredom and disillusionment as those around him fade away. La Dolce Vita is a timeless film with which F

Michelangelo Antonioni has long been considered the most important European filmmaker. Carefully designed films philosophically explored the problems of modern life. La Notte is one of his most accessible films and is about a day in a difficult marriage. The successful writer Giovanni, played by Marcello Mastroianni, is married to a wealthy woman, played by Jeanne Moreau. During a night full of encounters, it becomes clear how far apart they are. The famous final scene on the golf course answers this in a painful way.

This western by Sergio Leone became internationally known under the title The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Although the lead actors, including Clint Eastwood, were American, the production was largely Italian and Spanish. The film is about three amoral freebooters who search for a hidden treasure during the American Civil War. While they try to collect clues about the precise location, they keep playing tricks on each other. Ennio Morricone's music is almost as legendary as the many memorable scenes. The final scene in a cemetery is one of the most famous duels in film history.

Federico Fellini's accessible and philosophical 8½ is a milestone in film history. Marcello Mastroianni plays the famous director Guido Anselmi who has big plans for his next film. However, he is in trouble both creatively and personally and decides to temporarily retreat to a spa. Not that he finds peace there: nervous producers, fans, his wife and many beautiful women demand attention. He increasingly surrenders to fantasies and his new film never seems to materialize. 8½ won an Oscar for best foreign film.

Il gattopardo is an impressive historical drama that tells the story of an aristocratic family in Sicily at the end of the nineteenth century. Don Fabrizio, played by American actor Burt Lancaster, is a good-natured prince who is mainly interested in hunting and astronomy. There is trouble in Italy and a revolution seems to be underway. Don Fabrizio sees that the changes are inevitable. Director Luchino Visconti managed to capture noble life with great attention to detail and thus set a new standard for costume dramas.

Il conformista is a film by Bernardo Bertolucci that is as dreamy as it is grim. The aloof Marcello works for the Italian secret police during World War II. One day he is ordered to kill an anti-fascist professor in Paris, whom he knows from the past. He travels to Paris with his wife. But Anna, the professor's young wife, distracts the couple. Will Marcello complete his task? And what happened in his youth that he can coldly accept such tasks?

Pier Paolo Pasolini first made his name as a poet and writer before turning to filmmaking. In many of his films he used unknown actors. He filmed his free film adaptation of a number of stories from One Thousand and One Nights on location in Yemen, Nepal and Eritrea, among others. The imaginative and sensual stories are given a unique atmosphere by the use of many amateurs and the dusty and colorful locations.

Una giornata particolare stars two iconic Italian actors: Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren. Ettore Scola's film is set on the day in 1938 that Hitler visits Mussolini in Rome. The entire residential complex in which the housewife, played by Loren, lives, empties out to attend the visit. She accidentally discovers that only a neighbor is still home. They start talking and she gently flirts with him. The man must explain to her why he cannot respond to her advances. A subdued and melancholic masterpiece.

Paolo Sorrentino's La grande bellezza marked a triumphant return of Italian cinema. The film attracted full houses for a long time and eventually won an Oscar for best foreign-language film. La grande bellezza follows the life of the old jet set journalist Jep Gambardella. He once wrote a novel, but after all these years he has not managed to write a second book. In countless beautiful scenes, Jep's life is sketched as he goes to parties and struggles with the meaning of life.