10 Classic Italian Films to Watch Before Vogue World: Milano

Italian cinema is widely considered the foundation of modern filmmaking. As renowned filmmaker and historian Martin Scorsese noted, mid-20th-century Italian directors like Roberto Rossellini "changed what the world thinks of cinema." Emerging from the devastation of World War II, a diverse group of critics, poets, and playwrights-turned-filmmakers from across Italy forged a new cinematic language from the ruins.

Pioneering directors such as Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, and Luchino Visconti, who had previously worked under the fascist regime, harnessed the country's shattered landscapes and widespread poverty to create a vivid, documentary-style neorealism. Their focus was on the "paesano" (countryman) and "paese" (country), capturing the essence of everyday Italian life. However, Rossellini and Visconti, the latter drawing from aristocratic theater and opera traditions, also explored melodrama, historical epics, and more expressionistic genres.

Under their influence, former neorealists like Michelangelo Antonioni and Federico Fellini broadened the scope of European art cinema. They delved into middle and upper-class dramas, dark comedies, satire, surrealism, psychogeography, baroque literature, and moral fables, illustrating Italy's remarkable industrial growth and burgeoning culture industry by the early 1960s. Simultaneously, genre directors such as Sergio Leone, Elio Petri, and Dario Argento crafted distinctively Italian interpretations of Westerns, political thrillers, police procedurals, suspense, and horror films during the turbulent countercultural period from the late 1960s onwards. These new Italian cinematic contributions transcended national borders, inspiring new generations of filmmakers and audiences globally.

In anticipation of Vogue World: Milano's tribute to Italian craftsmanship and innovation, we present a curated selection of Italy's most iconic films and the directors – some celebrated, others more obscure – who redefined the nation's landscape and people through the art of cinema.

Bicycle Thieves (a.k.a. The Bicycle Thief)/Ladri di biciclette (1948)