The film is a tribute to the beauty of Rome, the ‘eternal city’. The voice of Domenico Modugno singing Volare, the most well-known Italian song abroad, accompanies the opening credits of the film, which immediately treats us to a wide shot of a busy piazza Venezia, framed by the monumental Vittoriano, elegant buildings and churches.
Michelangelo’s story begins at the foot of the cordonata capitolina where Hayley, an American tourist, asks for directions to the Trevi fountain. While the pair get to know one another and fall in love in the streets winding through the city centre, Antonio (Alessandro TIberi) and Milly (Alessandra Mastronardi) arrive in Rome via Termini station and John Foy (Alec Baldwin) is sitting with his wife and friends at a table at the Caffè della Pace near piazza Navona, a famous meeting place for academics, artists and celebrities.
Michelangelo and Hayley stroll hand in hand along the viale delle Cento Fontane, which cuts through the gardens of Villa d’Este in Tivoli from east to west. The pair decide to get married and introduce one another to their respective sets of parents. Jerry (Woody Allen), Hayley’s father, is a retired record producer, and sees extraordinary singing talent in Giancarlo, his future son-in-law’s father. It’s just a shame that Giancarlo is only good at singing in the shower. Giancarlo’s debut performance takes place at the teatro Argentina.
John, who has left his friends doing touristy things, strolls down via Margutta, in the neighbourhood he lived in during his youth, or rather Campo Marzio, right in the middle of the centre. During his wanderings in Trastevere, on the corner of via della Scala and via Garibaldi, he meets Jack, who takes him to his house: this is actually the district of Monti, in via dei Neofiti, and from here on out John becomes Jack’s shadow and moral compass. Jack’s girlfriend, Sally, has invited her American friend Monica to come and stay. The couple go to pick her up from the airport and, after a conversation back at home, take her to piazza Navona later that evening.
After some persuasion from Sally, Jack takes Monica on a tour around the city: he shows her piazza del Campidoglio, the ruins of the Imperial Fora and the Colosseum, before the pair head to the Parco della Musica, a majestic building designed by Renzo Piano. As they stroll around near via dei Serpenti, Sally asks Jack how it went with her friend. The next stop on the tour is in south-east Rome and the Parco degli Acquedotti, containing the Aqua Claudio, and then Villa dei Quintili, in via Appia Antica.
Later we see Jack and his friend Leonardo walk under Porta Settimiana and sit down at a bar. In the evening, at Monica’s suggestion, the four of them sneak into Villa dei Quintili, on via Appia Antica, and are caught in a thunderstorm. Jack and Monica kiss at Villa Borghese, in front of the lake, with the tempio di Aesculapius in the background. When she finishes her exams, Sally celebrates with Jack and Monica at a restaurant on the Ostia Lido, while Monica receives a job offer and decides to leave straight away.
Leopoldo (Roberto Benigni) is a citizen like any other. His family, colleagues and friends take little notice of him and it seems like his opinion doesn’t matter to anyone, not even when he comments on the film he’s just seen upon leaving the Farnese cinema in Campo de’ Fiori. When he suddenly becomes popular, without knowing why, people start inviting him to elite events. One such event is a film premiere at The Space cinema in piazza della Repubblica, which he attends with his wife: we see the Naiadi fountain behind them as they walk the red carpet. Then there’s a fashion show at the Ara Pacis, where women battle it out to be seen by his side. Hounded by the paparazzi, he is caught leaving a restaurant in piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere with one of them. He escapes with his driver, looking for some peace and quiet, and ends up in the Oppian Hill Park. The paparazzi lose interest in Leopoldo when they find a bus driver who looks more interesting, on via della Vite. Having faded back into anonymity, Leopoldo strolls along via Veneto with his wife, but it’s hard for him to readjust to normal life.
Whilst looking for a hairdresser, Milly gets lost in the winding streets of the city centre: after asking for directions a couple of times, she comes to piazza del Popolo. Then she comes to largo Arenula and largo Argentina. When she sits down, having lost hope, on the side of the Turtle fountain in piazza Mattei, she realises she’s stumbled onto a film set.
In the closing scene of the film, Volare returns, this time played by an orchestra: after making our way through the most picturesque streets of the city together with the characters in the film, our last stop is piazza di Spagna.
The film is a tribute to the beauty of Rome, the ‘eternal city’. The voice of Domenico Modugno singing Volare, the most well-known Italian song abroad, accompanies the opening credits of the film, which immediately treats us to a wide shot of a busy piazza Venezia, framed by the monumental Vittoriano, elegant buildings and churches.
Michelangelo’s story begins at the foot of the cordonata capitolina where Hayley, an American tourist, asks for directions to the Trevi fountain. While the pair get to know one another and fall in love in the streets winding through the city centre, Antonio (Alessandro TIberi) and Milly (Alessandra Mastronardi) arrive in Rome via Termini station and John Foy (Alec Baldwin) is sitting with his wife and friends at a table at the Caffè della Pace near piazza Navona, a famous meeting place for academics, artists and celebrities.
Michelangelo and Hayley stroll hand in hand along the viale delle Cento Fontane, which cuts through the gardens of Villa d’Este in Tivoli from east to west. The pair decide to get married and introduce one another to their respective sets of parents. Jerry (Woody Allen), Hayley’s father, is a retired record producer, and sees extraordinary singing talent in Giancarlo, his future son-in-law’s father. It’s just a shame that Giancarlo is only good at singing in the shower. Giancarlo’s debut performance takes place at the teatro Argentina.
John, who has left his friends doing touristy things, strolls down via Margutta, in the neighbourhood he lived in during his youth, or rather Campo Marzio, right in the middle of the centre. During his wanderings in Trastevere, on the corner of via della Scala and via Garibaldi, he meets Jack, who takes him to his house: this is actually the district of Monti, in via dei Neofiti, and from here on out John becomes Jack’s shadow and moral compass. Jack’s girlfriend, Sally, has invited her American friend Monica to come and stay. The couple go to pick her up from the airport and, after a conversation back at home, take her to piazza Navona later that evening.
After some persuasion from Sally, Jack takes Monica on a tour around the city: he shows her piazza del Campidoglio, the ruins of the Imperial Fora and the Colosseum, before the pair head to the Parco della Musica, a majestic building designed by Renzo Piano. As they stroll around near via dei Serpenti, Sally asks Jack how it went with her friend. The next stop on the tour is in south-east Rome and the Parco degli Acquedotti, containing the Aqua Claudio, and then Villa dei Quintili, in via Appia Antica.
Later we see Jack and his friend Leonardo walk under Porta Settimiana and sit down at a bar. In the evening, at Monica’s suggestion, the four of them sneak into Villa dei Quintili, on via Appia Antica, and are caught in a thunderstorm. Jack and Monica kiss at Villa Borghese, in front of the lake, with the tempio di Aesculapius in the background. When she finishes her exams, Sally celebrates with Jack and Monica at a restaurant on the Ostia Lido, while Monica receives a job offer and decides to leave straight away.
Leopoldo (Roberto Benigni) is a citizen like any other. His family, colleagues and friends take little notice of him and it seems like his opinion doesn’t matter to anyone, not even when he comments on the film he’s just seen upon leaving the Farnese cinema in Campo de’ Fiori. When he suddenly becomes popular, without knowing why, people start inviting him to elite events. One such event is a film premiere at The Space cinema in piazza della Repubblica, which he attends with his wife: we see the Naiadi fountain behind them as they walk the red carpet. Then there’s a fashion show at the Ara Pacis, where women battle it out to be seen by his side. Hounded by the paparazzi, he is caught leaving a restaurant in piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere with one of them. He escapes with his driver, looking for some peace and quiet, and ends up in the Oppian Hill Park. The paparazzi lose interest in Leopoldo when they find a bus driver who looks more interesting, on via della Vite. Having faded back into anonymity, Leopoldo strolls along via Veneto with his wife, but it’s hard for him to readjust to normal life.
Whilst looking for a hairdresser, Milly gets lost in the winding streets of the city centre: after asking for directions a couple of times, she comes to piazza del Popolo. Then she comes to largo Arenula and largo Argentina. When she sits down, having lost hope, on the side of the Turtle fountain in piazza Mattei, she realises she’s stumbled onto a film set.
In the closing scene of the film, Volare returns, this time played by an orchestra: after making our way through the most picturesque streets of the city together with the characters in the film, our last stop is piazza di Spagna.
Medusa Film, Gravier Productions, Perdido Production
Four stories set against the backdrop of Rome: Jack is an architecture student who tries not to fall in love with Monica, his girlfriend’s best friend; Giancarlo is an outstanding opera singer, but only in the shower; Leopoldo Pisanello is a stranger who is fed up of being constantly attacked by journalists for no reason; Antonio is forced, through a misunderstanding, to pass off a prostitute, Anna, as his wife while the latter has fun with a film star.