Rome, Open City(Roma città aperta)

La Strada
(La strada)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy • 1954
• Director Federico Fellini
• Cast Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart, Aldo Silvani, Marcella Rovere, Lidia Venturini
• Genre Drama
• Available on Criterion Channel, Kanopy, HBO Max

Gelsoma, a circus performer, endures her husbands coldness and abuse as they travel the Italian countryside performing together.

8½

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy, France • 1963
• Director Federico Fellini
• Cast Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimée, Sandra Milo, Rossella Falk, Barbara Steele
• Genre Drama, Fantasy
• Available on Apple iTunes, Criterion Channel, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Vudu, Kanopy, HBO Max, YouTube

With 8½ Frederico Fellini weaves a self-portrait where dreams and reality are a mix.

La Dolce Vita
(La dolce vita)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy, France • 1960
• Director Federico Fellini
• Cast Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimée, Yvonne Furneaux, Magali Noël, Alain Cuny
• Genre Comedy, Drama
• Available on FilmBox+

A paprazzo's search for love and happiness through booze and sex.

Umberto D.

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy • 1952
• Director Vittorio De Sica
• Cast Carlo Battisti, Maria Pia Casilio, Lina Gennari, Elena Rea, Memmo Carotenuto, Ileana Simova
• Genre Drama
• Available on Apple iTunes, Criterion Channel, Amazon Video, Kanopy, HBO Max

What will you do when you can't afford to live?

Journey to Italy
(Viaggio in Italia)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy, France • 1954
• Director Roberto Rossellini
• Cast Ingrid Bergman, George Sanders, Jackie Frost, Maria Mauban, Anna Proclemer, Leslie Daniels
• Genre Drama, Romance
• Available on Apple iTunes, Criterion Channel, FilmBox+, Amazon Video, Kanopy, HBO Max, Freevee Amazon Channel

A bored English couple must face the cracks in their marriage on a trip to Italy.

Stromboli
(Stromboli (Terra di Dio))

• ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy, United States • 1950
• Director Roberto Rossellini
• Cast Ingrid Bergman, Mario Vitale, Renzo Cesana, Mario Sponzo, Gaetano Famularo, Angelo Molino
• Genre Drama
• Available on Criterion Channel, FilmBox+, Amazon Video, HBO Max, Freevee Amazon Channel

Raging Island... Raging Passions!

Ossessione

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy • 1943
• Director Luchino Visconti
• Cast Clara Calamai, Massimo Girotti, Dhia Cristiani, Elio Marcuzzo, Vittorio Duse, Michele Riccardini
• Genre Crime, Drama, Romance
• Available on FilmBox+, Amazon Video

Bicycle Thieves
(Ladri di biciclette)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy • 1948
• Director Vittorio De Sica
• Cast Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell, Elena Altieri, Gino Saltamerenda, Giulio Chiari
• Genre Drama
• Available on Apple iTunes, Criterion Channel, FilmBox+, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Vudu, Kanopy, HBO Max, YouTube

Antonio and his son walk the streets of Rome in search of Antonio’s stolen bicycle, vital for keeping his job.

Germany, Year Zero
(Germania anno zero)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy, France, Germany • 1948
• Director Roberto Rossellini
• Cast Edmund Moeschke, Ernst Pittschau, Ingetraud Hinze, Franz-Otto Krüger, Erich Gühne, Heidi Blänkner
• Genre War, Drama
• Available on Criterion Channel, FilmBox+, HBO Max

The country is obliterated, the buildings are dilapidated and the people are desolated.

Paisan
(Paisà)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy • 1946
• Director Roberto Rossellini
• Cast Carmela Sazio, Robert Van Loon, Benjamin Emanuel, Raymond Campbell, Harold Wagner, Albert Heinze
• Genre History, Drama, War
• Available on Criterion Channel, FilmBox+, HBO Max

Accattone

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy • 1961
• Director Pier Paolo Pasolini
• Cast Franco Citti, Franca Pasut, Silvana Corsini, Paola Guidi, Adriana Asti, Luciano Conti
• Genre Drama
• Available on Criterion Channel, Hoopla

The poor man's "La Dolce Vita".

I Vitelloni
(I vitelloni)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy, France • 1953
• Director Federico Fellini
• Cast Franco Interlenghi, Alberto Sordi, Franco Fabrizi, Leopoldo Trieste, Riccardo Fellini, Leonora Ruffo
• Genre Comedy, Drama
• Available on Apple iTunes, Criterion Channel, Amazon Video, HBO Max

Five young men dream of success as they drift lazily through life in a small Italian village.

Nights of Cabiria
(Le notti di Cabiria)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy, France • 1957
• Director Federico Fellini
• Cast Giulietta Masina, François Périer, Franca Marzi, Amedeo Nazzari, Dorian Gray, Aldo Silvani
• Genre Drama
• Available on Apple iTunes, Microsoft Store, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Vudu, YouTube

The story of a betrayed but unquenchable little Roman street-walker.

Bellissima

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy • 1951
• Director Luchino Visconti
• Cast Anna Magnani, Walter Chiari, Tina Apicella, Gastone Renzelli, Tecla Scarano
• Genre Comedy, Drama
• Available on Apple iTunes, Microsoft Store, FilmBox+, Amazon Video

How far will one mother go?

Miracle in Milan
(Miracolo a Milano)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy • 1951
• Director Vittorio De Sica
• Cast Emma Gramatica, Francesco Golisano, Paolo Stoppa, Guglielmo Barnabò, Brunella Bovo, Anna Carena
• Genre Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
• Available on Criterion Channel, Amazon Video, Freevee Amazon Channel

An impudent, riotous laugh on the lives and morals of our day!

La Terra Trema
(La terra trema)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy • 1948
• Director Luchino Visconti
• Cast Antonio Arcidiacono, Giuseppe Arcidiacono, Venera Bonaccorso, Nicola Castorino, Rosa Catalano, Rosa Costanzo
• Genre Drama
• Available on Apple iTunes, Microsoft Store, Amazon Video, Vudu, VUDU Free

Shoeshine
(Sciuscià)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy • 1946
• Director Vittorio De Sica
• Cast Franco Interlenghi, Rinaldo Smordoni, Annielo Mele, Bruno Ortenzi, Emilio Cigoli
• Genre Drama
• Available on Apple iTunes, Amazon Video, Vudu, VUDU Free

Mamma Roma

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy • 1962
• Director Pier Paolo Pasolini
• Cast Anna Magnani, Ettore Garofolo, Franco Citti, Silvana Corsini, Luisa Loiano, Paolo Volponi
• Genre Drama
• Available on Criterion Channel

A former sex worker attempts to make a new life for herself, despite the looming threats of her past.

The Children Are Watching Us
(I bambini ci guardano)

• ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
• Italy • 1944
• Director Vittorio De Sica
• Cast Emilio Cigoli, Isa Pola, Luciano De Ambrosis, Ernesto Calindri, Giovanna Cigoli, Tecla Scarano
• Genre Drama
• Available on Criterion Channel

A pulsating drama of childhood.