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Five complicated romances in Italian films Italy loves romance. Whether the love is forbidden, consensual, impossible or successful, this subject is always a guaranteed formula for any director who wants to move his audience. We have selected five of Italy’s most moving romantic films. |
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Life is Beautiful - La vita è bella (1997) The winner of a Golden Palm at Cannes and an Oscar, this film, regarded by many critics as a masterpiece and starring the renowned Roberto Benigni, tells of a love story set amidst World War II. Guido is a dreamer who moves to the city to begin a new life. On the way he meets Dora (Nicoletta Brashi), the heiress of a multimillionaire family. The relationship seems impossible, until Guido takes the matter into his own hands and runs to Dora on her wedding day. Years after, the loving couple face difficulties again when the horrors of war split them apart, perhaps forever. |
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Senso (1954) Set in Italy around 1866, near the end of the Italian-Austrian war of unification, the film opens with a performance of Il Trovatore. Suddenly, the opera is interrupted by a major protest of Italian Nationalists against the occupying Austrian troops. Livia, an Italian Countess who is unhappily married to an old aristocrat, tries to conceal the fact that her own cousin Marquis Roberto Ussoni organized the protest. During the commotion, she meets a dashing young Austrian Officer named Franz Mahler, and becomes instantly obsessed with him. The two begin a secret, forbidden love affair. Despite the obvious fact that Franz was responsible for sending Roberto into exile for his radical behaviour, Livia vainly pretends not to be aware of it. |
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The Life I Want - La vita che vorrei (2004) The film tells the story of Laura (Sandra Ceccarelli), a passionate, impetuous young woman taking her first uncertain steps in the world of acting. At an audition for a period drama, she meets the famous actor Stefano (Luigi Lo Cascio), who’s struck by Laura's vulnerability and beauty. The two are cast opposite each other as lovers embroiled in a secret, forbidden affair. As their dramatic, whirlwind romance unfolds, the couple is thrown through many twists and turns, and both start to wonder whether they really are right for one another or not.
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The Tiger and the Snow – La tigre e la nieve (2005) Starring the prolific Roberto Benigni, The Tiger and The Snow is a fairytale where dreams of romance embrace reality. In the film, Attilio (Roberto Benigni) is a divorced professor of literature who has fallen deeply in love with a beautiful woman named Vittoria (Nicoletta Brashi). She, however, is oblivious to his love, even after he follows her on her flight to Iraq. Even when she is gravely injured and falls into a coma, his love still remains strong. The story, developed through flashbacks, builds to a shocking twist, revealing that Vittoria is actually Atilo’s wife. |
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Bread, Love and Dreams - Pane, amore e fantasia (1953) Directed by Luigi Comincini, and starred by Vittorio DeSica and Gina Lollobrigida, this film tells the story of Marshall Antonio Carotenuto, a man sent to Sagliena, a tiny, imaginary village in the center of 1950s Italy. Eager to find the perfect wife, he is determined to make the young Maria de Ritis his bride. Unfortunately, she is already in love with Carotenuto shy subordinate, Stelluti. Mistaking her headstrong behaviour for promiscuity, De Sica makes advances towards her, but she rejects him. In despair, De Sica decides to settle for village midwife Annarella. |