La dolce vita (The Sweet Life) is one of the most beautiful and famous Italian movies of all times. Directed by Federico Fellini, starring Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg was released in 1960.

The story is about a young and handsome Roman journalist (Mastroianni) that would like to become writer in the Rome of the late 50s and early 60s. Is set and filmed in Rome and surroundings and contains the iconic scene of Anita Ekberg bathing in the Trevi fountain at night.

The famous scene in the Trevi Fountain was shot in winter and Fellini claimed that Anita Ekberg (born in Sweden) stood in the cold water in her dress for hours without any trouble while Mastroianni had to wear a wetsuit beneath his clothes. Apparently this was not enough and it was only after "he polished off a bottle of vodka" that Fellini could shoot the scene with a drunk Mastroianni.

La Dolce Vita is a movie where “dignity is transmuted into the sensational. Old values, old disciplines are discarded for the modern, the synthetic, the quick by a society that is past sophistication and is sated with pleasure and itself. All of its straining for sensations is exploited for the picture magazines and the scandal sheets that merchandise excitement and vicarious thrills for the mob … it is an awesome picture, licentious in content but moral and vastly sophisticated in its attitude and what it says “*

It won one Oscar ( and had 4 Academy Awards nominations) and the Golden Palm at Cannes Film Festival. Was voted the 6th greatest film of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

The film sparkled a heated debate when was released. It was harshily condemned by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano in 1960. Subject to widespread censorship, the film was banned in Spain until 1975 after the death of Franco.

The character of Paparazzo, the news photographer (played by Walter Santesso) who works with Marcello, is the origin of the word paparazzi used in many languages to describe intrusive photographers. Ennio Flaiano, the film's co-screenwriter and creator of Paparazzo, reports that he took the name from a character in a novel by George Gissing. Gissing's character, Signor Paparazzo, is actually found in his travel book, By the Ionian Sea (1901).

Italian Title: La dolce vita

English Title: The Sweet Life

Director: Federico Fellini

Writers: Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, Brunello Rondi, Pier Paolo Pasolini

Year: 1960

Genre: Comedy/Drama

IMDB rating: 8,1

Awards: Won one Oscar. Another 7 wins & 7 nominations

Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimée, Yvonne Furneaux, Magali Noël

Runtime: 174 min

Country: Italy – France

Filming Locations: Rome, Fregene, Viterbo, Passo Oscuro, and Bassano Romano , Italy

Produced by: Giuseppe Amato, Angelo Rizzoli

Music: Nino Rota

(*) Bosley Crowther in the New York Times