Federico Fellini‘s La Dolce Vita has gone down in history as one of the most important Italian movies ever made and yet when it premiered at the Capitol Cinema in Rome on the 5 February 1960, an indignant public started to hiss, hoot, yell and stamp; actor Marcello Mastroianni was accused of being a coward and a communist and someone even dared to spit at Federico Fellini himself.
The Italian director’s visionary talent aroused the Church’s hostility and in the Netherlands the movie was censored, but despite these setbacks, La Dolce Vita was a great success, bringing in several million dollars.
The sweet life of 1950s Rome which, in those distant, halcyon days, attracted the glamorous, the rich and famous; has over the years become the epitomy of Italy’s glamour!