Cinema of “Italy”

By Cameron Beall
History of Italy

Italy is located in south-central Europe occupying a peninsula that juts deep into the
Mediterranean Sea. In third century BCE, Rome conquered Peninsular Italy. Over the next few
centuries this empire spread to dominate the Mediterranean and Western Europe. After the
Italian part of the Roman Empire declined in the fifth century Italy was the target of several
invasions. As a result, the region broke apart into several smaller bodies. A number of powerful
city states emerged, including Florence, Venice, and Genoa; which started the Renaissance.
Unification and independence movements for Italy developed over strong voices in the
nineteenth century after Napoleon created a short lived kingdom of Italy. A tipping point had
been reached after a war between Austria and France- and a Kingdom of Italy was formed in
1861. When the Papal States joined by 1870, it covered just about all of what we now know as
Italy. The kingdom was subverted when Mussolini took over as a dictator. He took Italy into
World War II, which sparked his downfall. Modern Italy is now a democratic republic, and has
been since the modern institution came into effect in 1948.
Capital City: Rome

Area: 116,347 square miles

Population: 60.6 million (2016)

Religion: Nearly 90 percent of Italians identify as Roman Catholics. The other roughly 10
percent is made up of a mix between Protestants, Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Muslims.
According to a recent poll, there is even a small percentage of the population who consider
themselves atheists or agnostics.
Ethnic Groups: Nearly 92 percent of Italy’s population is Italians.

Descendants of the indigenous groups from the medieval times such as Greeks, Germans, Jews,
and Romans make up some of the modern-day Italians. Greek-Italians and Albanian-Italians are
found in the Southern part of Italy today.

The Northern part is dominated by French-Italians, Slovene-Italians, and German Italians.

Unemployment rate: 10.7 percent (December 2017)

Poverty: The number of absolute poor people in Italy rose to 4.7 million, according to a report
from July 2017. This is a significant increase from the 1.7 million mark in 2006. The figure
represents nearly 8 percent of the country’s population, with most of them living in southern
regions.

Wealth: The distribution of wealth in Italy is very uneven, evidence to its increasing poverty rate
as aforementioned.

GDP per capita: 1849.97 USA Equivalent: 18624.48

Economy: Italy has a long list of economic problems. Young people struggle to find work,
national debt is skyrocketing and banks are drowning in bad loans. Italy’s economy is still around
6% smaller than it was in 2008, before the European debt crisis exploded. Investment is down
20% from its peak prior to the crisis.
Industries: Since the ending of World War II, Italy has emerged as one of the leading
industrialized nations.

Types of industries:

Tourism Industry

Manufacturing Industry

Agricultural Industry

Service Sector

Trade
Events that impacted the Country

Italian Renaissance c.1300-c.1600

Italy led the cultural and mental transformation of Europe which became known as the
Renaissance. This was a period of great artistic achievements, mostly in urban areas and
facilitated by the wealth of the church.

Napoleonic Italy 1796-1814

French General Napoleon campaigned through Italy and by 1798 there were French forces in
Rome. Napoleon’s victories in 1800 allowed him to redraw the map of Italy numerous times,
which created states for his family to rule. Many of the old rulers were restored in 1814 after
Napoleon’s defeat.
Natural Disasters/Diseases

Italy experiences a handful of natural disasters, such as: Cyclones, Earthquakes, Fires, Floods,
and Oil Slicks.

Diseases: All travelers should definitely get a routine vaccine upon traveling to Italy.

Other diseases such as Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and Rabies exist in Italy and are diseases one
should certainly be aware of.
Italy Film Industry Overview and History

The first known Italian film was produced in 1896 and records visits of the Italian King and

Queen in Florence. The commercial Italian film industry began in Rome in 1905 with the release

of Florentine Filoteo Alberini’s classic film, The Capture of Rome, September, 1870. Other film

companies began to rise up in Naples, Turin, and Milan. They soon established both a domestic

and international market for their film products. Prior to the first World War in 1914, Italy was

at the forefront of screenwriting and movie production. At that time their silent films were

historical, but by 1910, the Italians began producing art films and comedies.
Important Genres and Conventions from
Films

By 1911, Italian cinema had given birth to the avant-garde movement, which were new and
unusual experimental ideas especially in the arts. Not many films survived from that time, but
their influence was felt throughout Europe. The Last Days of Pompeii, was a blockbuster film
featuring great visual effects for the time, and carried great influence for years to come.

World War II saw the production of a series of propaganda films, followed by a new politically
inspired film genre called Neorealism. These types of films highlighted the demoralizing
economic conditions in Italy following the aftermath of the war. Some of Italy’s most powerful
films came from this period.
Notable Films

1. Umberto D. (1952)- Directed by Vittorio De Sica. Arguably one of the greatest Italian
neorealist films, this film is about a man who is a struggling pensioner and his faithful dog.
It highlights Italy’s postwar strife and the struggle for working class people to get by. It
was nominated for an Oscar and its cast was highlighted by college professor turned
actor, Carlo Battisti.
Notable Films (continued)

2. L’Avventura (1960)- Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.This film is about a trip amongst a

group of friends taken across the Mediterranean Sea. A woman disappears during the trip, and
her lover and best friend become attracted to each other. The stars of this film are Gabriele
Ferzetti and Monica Vitti. Michelangelo was not only the director, but he also wrote the story
and screenplay. This film was nominated for two BAFTA film awards. “L’Avventura gave me one
of the most profound shocks I’ve ever had at the movies”- Martin Scorsese.
Notable films (continued)

3. La Dolce Vita (1960)- Directed by Federico Fellini. This film guides you through the streets of
Rome, following a week in the life of paparazzo journalist whose fantasy fragments clash with
harsh realities. The stars of this film are Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg. This film won 1
Oscar for Best Costume Design.
Notable Directors

1. Sergio Leone (1929-1989). Best known for his spaghetti westerns, Leone invented the
extreme close-up in western films. He was born into this life as his father was a pioneer in
cinema and his mother an actress. Most notable film: Once Upon A Time In The West.
Notable Directors (continued)

2. Franco Zeffirelli (1932-) Claim to fame internationally mainly comes from his 1968 film
adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Also known for his 1977 mini-series Jesus of Nazareth, which I
used to watch at my grandmother’s house on Easter Sunday. Studied art at the University of
Florence in Italy.
Notable Directors (continued)

3. Bernardo Bertolucci (1940-). Bertolucci is an Academy Award winning director. He won best
director for his film The Last Emperor, which was the first western film made in China to be
produced with full cooperation from the Chinese government since 1949. Another one of his
notable films includes The Last Tango in Paris.
Notable Actors

1. Gian Maria Volonte (1933-1994). Volonte studied in Rome at the National Dramatic Arts
Academy, where he obtained his degree in 1957. He soon after that began working on his
career in theatre and television, quickly becoming one of the most promising actors of his
generation. After several supporting appearances, he reached notoriety in Sergio Leone’s
Fist Full of Dollars (1964). He won his first Nastro d’Argento in 1970, the most prestigious
acting award in Italy.
Notable Actors (continued)

2. Marcello Mastroianni (1924-1996). Mastroianni started off acting as playing extras in films.
He then started working for the Italian department of “Eagle Lions Films” in Rome. Here he
joined a drama club where he was discovered by famous director Luchino Visconti. His
breakthrough came in 1960 when Federico Fellini casted him in the lead role for the
aforementioned, La Dolce Vita (1960). He died of pancreatic cancer in 1996.
Notable Actors (Continued)

3. Giulietta Masina (1921-1994). Born in San Giorgio di Piano, Masina spent many of her
teenage years living with her widowed aunt in Rome. Here is where she gained her passion for
theatre and obtained a degree in Philosophy. She began her career on the radio, talking about
adventures of newlyweds from scripts written by Federico Fellini, whom she would later marry
and become an inspirational muse for many of his films. She made her cinema debut in the 1948
film Without Pity. Her and her husbands took off with Oscar-winning films La Strada (1954) and
The Nights of Cabiria (1957), which also won her the award for Best Female Performance at the
Cannes Film Festival. She died in 1994, just a few months after her husband.
Works Cited

https://www.imdb.com/?ref_=nv_home

http://flavorwire.com/325449/10-essential-italian-films

http://www.italianlegacy.com/italian-film.html

http://listverse.com/2008/06/27/top-10-greatest-italian-film-directors/

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-are-the-biggest-industries-in-italy.html

http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/01/news/economy/italy-election-economy/index.html

https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Italy