What Are Some Good Movies Set In Italy?

Roman Holiday. It's a classic movie featuring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in every lovely corners of Italy. It's a story of choosing between love/affection or career. It's a must watch because it garnered accolades among the critics and award winning bodies like Oscars.
 
Regina Juno said:
I just remembered "Letters To Juliet" It starts in Verona and then takes you through Tuscany during the movie. It is a cute film starring Amanda Seyfried from 2010. It is about how people actually write to Juliet in Verona from the famous Romeo and Juliet. A secretary from the Juliet Club actually responds to each letter. In the movie a writer visiting Verona writes back to a woman who wrote a letter in 1957. After receiving the response this woman returns to Verona and together they search for her lover from over 50 years ago. During this search there are some lovely shots of Italian vineyards. The movie also depicts quite a bit of delicious Italian cuisine and the Italian culture. It is particularly amusing how it shows older Italian men as romantic and quite flattering to women.

This also reminded me that the Romeo and Juliet films were also shot in Italy. I believe the newest 2013 version is filmed in Verona as well as other parts of Italy.
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I loved this one. It was so well-made. I also liked how they made sure to film scenes in Verona and show it in a very beautiful light. Besides, Amanda Seyfried did a good job, it must be admitted. I liked how it ended, with the old lady receiving the letter (do I remember this well?). It somehow gave the story a nice ending, after all the search...

I haven't watched a single Romeo and Juliet movie! I've just realised XD. It's a shame... I'll check out the 2013 version then, thank you for recommending it :)
 
I may be on a bit of a role here, but I guess I just have a love for films shot in Italy. The American, starring George Clooney, is a 2010 film. There are scenes in Castel del Monte, Abruzzo, Sulmona and Campo Imperatore in the Province of L'Aquila in Rome. Clooney’s character drives from Rome to Castel del Monte, this is an impressively long drive through the 4600 meter long San Domenico Tunnel (Galleria San Domenico) that is between the exits of Pescina and Cocullo on the A25 highway that connects Rome to Torano and Pescara.
 
Gabe said:
My favorite of all time is Cinema Paradiso which is a romantic film if you watch the extended version. I personally prefer the original cut rather than the Director's cut, but the music is beautiful. If you have never seen this film, you must!!! It won several awards and is considered a classic.

Another is Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn and the classic Dolce Vita.
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I have never really had about this movie but now that you have mentioned it i would try and watch it.
 
NINE is a movie that's set in Italy, but it's a musical. I love it so much though, because the music is amazing, the cast is great and the scenery is gorgeous. I've had to have watched it almost ten times!

Roman Holiday is a good classic film that's set in Italy.
 
The Italian Job is a great one. Not everyone has seen the older version from the late 1960s starring Michael Caine, so you could also stump for the more recent version, from about 10 years ago, with Mark Wahlberg. I prefer the original myself.
 
In Love and War is a Hemmingway novel made into a film set in Italy. It takes place during World War I and is about a soldier who falls in love with an olde woman, who is his nurse. It stars Sandra Bullock. The film didn't do to well and was heavily criticized., which is sad for a Hemmingway story.
 
Regina Juno said:
In Love and War is a Hemmingway novel made into a film set in Italy. It takes place during World War I and is about a soldier who falls in love with an olde woman, who is his nurse. It stars Sandra Bullock. The film didn't do to well and was heavily criticized., which is sad for a Hemmingway story.
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Hemingway :o Not my favourite novelist, I must admit. Somehow his books never worked for me. I always had to force myself to read them. Same is with the author of The Catcher in the Rye (forgot his name). That was a book I really and I mean really couldn't stand reading. I am more of a Dickens, Austen / Bronte / Eliot, Richardson reader.

I've never seen the movie either. Was it any good?
 
Aurelia said:
Hemingway :eek: Not my favourite novelist, I must admit. Somehow his books never worked for me. I always had to force myself to read them. Same is with the author of The Catcher in the Rye (forgot his name). That was a book I really and I mean really couldn't stand reading. I am more of a Dickens, Austen / Bronte / Eliot, Richardson reader.

I've never seen the movie either. Was it any good?
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The film didn't do very well. I guess you can't really imagine Sandra Bullock in a role during World War I. I agree, that Hemingway can be a little dry and is not for everyone. However, he is a classic author, so a literature connoisseur should try reading a few of his novels. The Catcher in the Rye is by JD Sallinger. That one I read when I was in high school and was not that fond of it either, but I think I can appreciate it much more now that I'm more mature. However, my favorite is Jane Austen, I can repeatedly read her stuff and have watched plenty of film adaptations of her books. To bad there aren't any set in Italy.
 
Regina Juno said:
The film didn't do very well. I guess you can't really imagine Sandra Bullock in a role during World War I. I agree, that Hemingway can be a little dry and is not for everyone. However, he is a classic author, so a literature connoisseur should try reading a few of his novels. The Catcher in the Rye is by JD Sallinger. That one I read when I was in high school and was not that fond of it either, but I think I can appreciate it much more now that I'm more mature. However, my favorite is Jane Austen, I can repeatedly read her stuff and have watched plenty of film adaptations of her books. To bad there aren't any set in Italy.
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I love Jane Austen too!! :) Her novels are so beautiful. I'd always liked her. Hemingway just... wasn't for me. Same is with Spanish authors - I am yet to find the one I like. French are alright, mostly. I like the Germans. They suit me. And the English. That's overgeneralising, of course, but so far my preference has been somewhere within these lines.

Sandra Bullock... I don't imagine her anyhow. She's just... .... ...
 
Aurelia said:
I love Jane Austen too!! :) Her novels are so beautiful. I'd always liked her. Hemingway just... wasn't for me. Same is with Spanish authors - I am yet to find the one I like. French are alright, mostly. I like the Germans. They suit me. And the English. That's overgeneralising, of course, but so far my preference has been somewhere within these lines.

Sandra Bullock... I don't imagine her anyhow. She's just... .... ...
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Aww. I do like Sandy.. you know she won an Oscar. I just can't picture her in a Hemmingway novel. I wonder if that film would have done better if they had cast someone else in that role.
 
Regina Juno said:
Aww. I do like Sandy.. you know she won an Oscar. I just can't picture her in a Hemmingway novel. I wonder if that film would have done better if they had cast someone else in that role.
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She's not bad, alright :)

I wonder who'd be the best for Hemmingway novels... maybe the setting wasn't done right? I don't know. Sometimes one of the great decisive factors are the effects and the "brightness" - I like it when scenes are well "lit" and when the colours aren't too dull - that always puts me off, even if a movie is a serious one. It gives you an impression that they couldn't have filmed with the proper light and such.
 
A Farewell to Arms is another one of Hemingway's novels that they made into a film back in 1957 and starred Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes. Maybe the older classic actors are better suited for Hemingway's work. A Farewell to Arms is set during the Italian campaign of World War I. I should mention that Love and War is about the time of Hemingway's life before he wrote A Farewell to Arms.
 
Regina Juno said:
A Farewell to Arms is another one of Hemingway's novels that they made into a film back in 1957 and starred Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes. Maybe the older classic actors are better suited for Hemingway's work. A Farewell to Arms is set during the Italian campaign of World War I. I should mention that Love and War is about the time of Hemingway's life before he wrote A Farewell to Arms.
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I know about this one! The book I mean (A Farewell to Arms). It's one of the rare Hemingway's works that I'd actually liked. And in my opinion, much better than To Whom the Bells Toll, even though the second one is more known than the first... I haven't watched the movies, though. Now when I think of it, I've rarely watched such movies...
 
Aurelia said:
I know about this one! The book I mean (A Farewell to Arms). It's one of the rare Hemingway's works that I'd actually liked. And in my opinion, much better than To Whom the Bells Toll, even though the second one is more known than the first... I haven't watched the movies, though. Now when I think of it, I've rarely watched such movies...
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You really have to be in the mood to sit around and watch classic movies to catch one of these films. That rarely happens when we have busy lives. I don't think they ever air these films on regular TV anymore. You have to make an effort to find them.
 
That's such a shame. Sometimes you really must stop and see one of them. Many of the classics are timeless. I've enjoyed so much watching Great Gatsby - I'd seen a few versions, actually. It's only a shame there are so few of them. So many books, so much potential and yet so few movies.
 
Aurelia said:
I watched Under the Tuscan Sun... I mean, I watched it to the end (I usually stop if I don't like the movie) and I wasn't really into the movie. It was... well, typical movie - nothing special. But your point about the countryside and Tuscany is true - they did cover it. However, you may save yourself some boring watching and just fast forward to that... there are even a few scenes in the city... you can also fast forward to that. Trust me, there isn't much to lose in skipping the rest of the movie. Unfortunately, it's true.
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I'm sorry you didn't like the movie plot itself. It is a little different, but I liked it. It portrays a little bit of how foreigners come into work in Italy as well. Anyway, I'm glad you like the scenery that is shot in the movie.
 
I adore the scenery. It's breathtaking. Italy is simply too beautiful - you just have to enjoy watching the landscape - it's impossible not to. I was really glad that I got to see so much beauty in one movie.
I'd also liked the cities they'd showed in the Tourist. I wasn't really a fan of that movie either, but the theatres and the cityscape... it was really breathtaking. If nothing, I'd recommend this movie because of that.
 
I have not seen the Tourist, but I have heard a lot of good things about it. I guess I just have not been able to sit down to an intense movie lately. I will have to make the effort so that I can check out the Italian scenery.
 
Regina Juno said:
I have not seen the Tourist, but I have heard a lot of good things about it. I guess I just have not been able to sit down to an intense movie lately. I will have to make the effort so that I can check out the Italian scenery.
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If it helps (don't know if you're a fan), both Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie are acting. But I didn't really follow the story much. It was a movie... the usual movie. But I did like the scenery a lot. It showed the best Italian cities in all their glory: Venice in particular: the up-scale neighbourhood, the high-class hotels, the classy opera houses... sigh, it made me feel so dreamy...

I've also heard that new James Bond movie will be partially filmed in Rome! So, we've got something to look forward to!
 
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