Classic Italian Movies

After the Second World War, the whole of Europe has changed in a way that will never be the same again, and Italy is among the countries participating in this change. Cinema was the area where we saw this change in Italy most clearly because the filmmakers, who were bored with the propaganda films made during the fascist Mussolini period, wanted to show everyone that the doors of a new world were opened with Italian films.

Here’s what happened after that day, and Italian films gained a new identity with the neorealism movement. The effects of this period on cinema were so great that it is possible to see some of them later and even in films made today. Of course, it is not easy to master the entire corpus, but let’s take a closer look at some classic Italian films and better understand the structure of the country’s cinema through the stories they present to the audience.

Some of the classic Italian movies you can enjoy:

• Il tempo si fermato
• La ragazza con la valigia
• mafioso
• risso amaro
• Sacco e Vanzetti
• roman ore 11
• Sedotta e abbandonata
• Indagine water un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto
• Ladri di biciclette
• La meglio gioventù
• Nuovo Cinema Paradiso

Two men on the mountain: Il tempo si è fermato

• Year: 1959
• Genre: Drama
• Director: Ermanno Olmi
• Cast: Roberto Seveso, Natale Rossi, Paolo Quadrubbi
• IMDb: 7.5

The movie Il tempo si è fermato begins with a young university student accepting his duty as a watchman after the man’s wife gave birth to him. The young man starts to work as a guard at a dam at the top of the mountain. In this quiet and desolate environment, there is an old man who is just a guard like him. As time passes and the ice melts, a friendship begins to form between the two men.

Head to the girl with her suitcase: La ragazza con la valigia

• Year: 1961
• Genre: Drama, Romance
• Director: Valerio Zurlini
• Cast: Claudia Cardinale, Corrado Pani, Jacques Perrin
• IMDb: 7.5

We are watching the story of a young woman in the movie La ragazza con la valigia, which was released in the world as Girl with a Suitcase. The young girl who left her lover for a rich man with a suitcase in her hand is then left in the middle again. When our character, who is trying to survive and has a crazy nightlife, goes to a seaside town, things get complicated and it will be his brother who will save him.

Not all Sicilians are mafia: Mafioso

• Year: 1962
• Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
• Director: Alberto Lattuada
• Cast: Alberto Sordi, Carmelo Oliviero, Gabriella Conti
• IMDb: 7.6

Having a successful dark comedy narrative, Mafioso begins with a Sicilian working in Milan for many years going to his village to see his family. Even if he is used to it, his wife, who is from the north, remains quite unfamiliar with this environment. While our character is longing for her old friends, the young girl who left her lover for a rich man with a suitcase in her hand, the novice assassin who leaves the house to hunt, will find herself in New York.

Theft of rice in the country: Riso amaro

• Year: 1949
• Genre: Crime, Drama
• Director: Giuseppe De Santis
• Cast: Giuseppe De Santis, Carlo Lizzani, Gianni Puccini
• IMDb: 7.6

Riso amaro, which was released in the world as Bitter Rice, is among the most remarkable films of the Italian neorealism movement. While escaping from the police in Northern Italy, two thieves find themselves among female workers and set off with them. One of the female workers somehow gets the duo, who doesn’t have a work permit, to work in the rice fields. What happened next reveals the reflection of a big theft in the countryside.

The story of real criminals: Sacco e Vanzetti

• Year: 1971
• Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
• Director: Giuliano Montaldo
• Cast: Gian Maria Volonte, Riccardo Cucciolla, Cyril Cusack
• IMDb: 7.8

In the movie Sacco e Vanzetti, we follow the story of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two real-life Italian anarchists. The two try to commit a robbery in 1920 in Massachusetts, USA. During the robbery, things go wrong and they have to kill two people. Thereupon, both are sentenced to death in court. The film received many awards in the international arena.

Unemployment to death: Rome ore 11

• Year: 1952
• Genre: Drama
• Director: Giuseppe De Santis
• Cast: Carla Del Poggio, Lucia Bosé, Raf Vallone
• IMDb: 7.8

Based on a true event that took place in Italy at the height of unemployment, the movie Roma ore 11 begins with 200 women applying for a job posting for a secretarial job. Among the women waiting for a job interview on a staircase are people from all walks of life. The story turns into a deep class questioning after the ladder collapsed, dozens of people were killed and dozens were injured.

It’s just like our series: Sedotta e abbandonata

• Year: 1964
• Genre: Comedy, Drama
• Director: Pietro Germi
• Cast: Stefania Sandrelli, Saro Urzì, Lando Buzzanca
• IMDb: 7.9

We watch a crowded family story in the movie Sedotta e abbandonata, a production that humorously criticizes the Sicilian rural life and traditional life. It all starts with the big sister’s fiancee deceiving her younger sister into having sex with her. When the 16-year-old girl becomes pregnant, her father asks her to leave the elder and marry the younger, but the man disappears. The father then embarks on the struggle to protect the honor of the family.

A strange black comedy: Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto

• Year: 1970
• Genre: Crime, Drama
• Director: Elio Petri
• Cast: Gian Maria Volonte, Florinda Bolkan, Gianni Santuccio
• IMDb: 8.0

We are watching an interesting dark humor narrative in the movie Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto, which was released in our country as an Investigation into a Citizen Beyond All Doubt. The story of the film, which won numerous awards, begins with a police inspector killing his mistress. A young cop helps the inspector, posing as suspects.

Italian neorealism itself: Ladri di biciclette

• Year: 1948
• Genre: Drama
• Director: Vittorio De Sica
• Cast: Lamberto Maggioran, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell
• IMDb: 8.3

The Ladri di biciclette movie, which was released in our country as Bicycle Thieves, means Italian neo-realism itself. In the story set in the post-war city of Rome, we follow the life of an ordinary worker struggling to survive. Our character, who finds a job after a long time, but has his bike stolen for the job, starts to wander around the city with his son and search for the stolen bike.

The middle-class family epic: La meglio gioventù

• Year: 2003
• Genre: Drama, Romance
• Director: Marco Tullio Giordana
• Cast: Luigi Lo Cascio, Alessio Boni, Jasmine Trinca
• IMDb: 8.5

In the movie La meglio gioventù, which was released in the world as The Best of Youth, we witness a kind of intergenerational conflict told through a family. The story, which began in 1966, becomes more layered year by year and continues until 2003. During this lifetime, according to some, the conflicts of a middle-class family within themselves and with the outside world are reflected on the screen.

Death of an old friend: Nuovo Cinema Paradiso

• Year: 1988
• Genre: Drama, Romance
• Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
• Cast: Philippe Noiret, Salvatore Cascio, Marco Leonardi
• IMDb: 8.5

Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, which was released in our country as Paradise Cinema, is considered one of the most important world classics and its music was composed by Ennio Morricone. The story begins when a director’s lover tells him that his mother called and that Alfredo is dead. Alfredo is actually a projectionist who showed him what cinema was for the first time in the director’s childhood.

We have listed some of the classic Italian films that stand out with their distinctive styles and briefly talked about the stories they presented to the audience. Of course, this list could have been much longer. You can share the Italian movies you want to be on our list in the comments.