Ettore Scola’s film is a hymn to the desire for summer escapes: as exemplified by the behaviour of Bruno Cortona (Vittorio Gassman) and his new friend Roberto Mariani (Jean-Louis Trintignant), apparently the last living being in Rome on a burning hot Ferragosto holiday. The exuberant 30-year-old easily convinces the student to get into his Lancia Aurelia B24 cabriolet which he drives very fast.
In the opening scenes, Bruno is wandering the deserted streets of the Balduina neighbourhood in search of a phone and a pack of cigarettes only to find that every single bar is closed. Deserted Rome is a “cemetery” he declares as he walks down via del Tritone, piazza di Spagna, piazza del Popolo to name but a few. He actually comes across a real cemetery after following two German girls: the German military cemetery in Pomezia. Bruno wants to distract his new friend from his studies and take him to lunch in via Capoprati 10, near the Foro Italico on the banks of the river Tiber.
Finding the restaurant closed, the two main characters set off along the via Aurelia, zigzagging North past Fiumicino, Ladispoli, Marina di Cerveteri, Santa Severa, Civitavecchia; their journey a snapshot of Italy’s boom years with the country dreaming of prosperity. They stop several times on their journey, including Roberto’s family village in Castello di Rota.
Their goal is Castiglioncello, where they fall asleep on sunbeds on the beach of the Ausonia resort, waking to find that they are surrounded by crowds of beachgoers. Leaving the resort located south of Livorno, the pair once again set off north on Via Aurelia, where the tragic epilogue takes place at Calafuria.
Ettore Scola’s film is a hymn to the desire for summer escapes: as exemplified by the behaviour of Bruno Cortona (Vittorio Gassman) and his new friend Roberto Mariani (Jean-Louis Trintignant), apparently the last living being in Rome on a burning hot Ferragosto holiday. The exuberant 30-year-old easily convinces the student to get into his Lancia Aurelia B24 cabriolet which he drives very fast.
In the opening scenes, Bruno is wandering the deserted streets of the Balduina neighbourhood in search of a phone and a pack of cigarettes only to find that every single bar is closed. Deserted Rome is a “cemetery” he declares as he walks down via del Tritone, piazza di Spagna, piazza del Popolo to name but a few. He actually comes across a real cemetery after following two German girls: the German military cemetery in Pomezia. Bruno wants to distract his new friend from his studies and take him to lunch in via Capoprati 10, near the Foro Italico on the banks of the river Tiber.
Finding the restaurant closed, the two main characters set off along the via Aurelia, zigzagging North past Fiumicino, Ladispoli, Marina di Cerveteri, Santa Severa, Civitavecchia; their journey a snapshot of Italy’s boom years with the country dreaming of prosperity. They stop several times on their journey, including Roberto’s family village in Castello di Rota.
Their goal is Castiglioncello, where they fall asleep on sunbeds on the beach of the Ausonia resort, waking to find that they are surrounded by crowds of beachgoers. Leaving the resort located south of Livorno, the pair once again set off north on Via Aurelia, where the tragic epilogue takes place at Calafuria.
INCEI Film, Sancro Film, Fair Film