Since its origins at the beginning of the last century, Italian cinema has developed a strong link between the representation of its national territory and the definition of its national identity. From the end of World War II onwards, Italy has witnessed a major urban development that has considerably modified the social and cultural life of its citizens — cinema has been able to capture and represent this transformation through a fascinating and complex combination of the real and the imagined.
During these presentations, we will examine films set in some of the major Italian cities to examine how the vision of the urban spaces offered to the viewer reflects Italy and its evolving cultural, social, and political fabric. Each presentation will be dedicated to an individual city and will explore related imagery through films beginning with the Fascist period through present times.
Cinematic Sicily
Sunday, January 26, 2025
11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. (C.T.)
Presented in English • Live from Rome Via Zoom
“L’ Italia, senza la Sicilia, non lascia alcuna immagine nell’anima: qui è la chiave di tutto.”
Although Goethe was not referring to contemporary Italy with his famous phrase, the idea that Sicily represents a key to its interpretation has always resonated with the many Italian filmmakers who have chosen Sicilian landscapes as settings for their films.
Through a fortunate combination of audiovisual, social and historical suggestions that make it a naturally cinematic place, Sicily, an accomplice of literature and mass media, has provided national cinema with an inexhaustible treasure chest of stories, figurations and motifs that have nourished the collective imagination for decades.
Starting from the transpositions on the big screen of Sicily’s rich literary heritage to the many mafia stories told against the backdrop of significant political and social transformations, this presentation will explore how Italian cinema has narrated Italy through Sicily as a place with a millenary history in which the characteristics of the Mezzogiorno and Italy have reached their most profound expression.
Leonardo Sciascia’s analysis of Sicily-themed cinema can be divided into three categories: Sicily is represented as a place of offense, as a setting for erotic comedy, and as a location imbued with beauty and truth. These themes have informed some of the most significant works of Italian cinema from the end of the war onwards, including Visconti’s “La Terra Trema,” Germi’s “Divorzio all’Italiana,” Rosi’s “Salvatore Giuliano,” and Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Nuovo Cinema Paradiso.” This rich cinematic tradition has also inspired a new generation of filmmakers from Sicily who have achieved national recognition for their innovative films, including Angela Torre, Cipri and Maresco, Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza.
Presented by Carolina Ciampaglia
Film scholar Carolina Ciampaglia teaches film studies and is the director of ItaliaIdea in Rome. She received her degree in modern languages and literature from the Università La Sapienza Roma, Laurea in 1984. She has also taught Italian cinema at both Cornell in Rome and DePaul University in Rome.
Register online with PayPal/credit card or Zelle payment to daniela@sentieri.com.
If paying by Zelle, please include: your name, member or non-member, cinematic sicily.
The deadline to register for this presentation is December 4, 2024.
CURRENT SENTIERI MEMBER PAYPAL PRICING @ $30
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NON-MEMBER PAYPAL PRICING @ $40
