1.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
2.
65th Venice International Film Festival
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The 65th Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, was opened on August 27,2008, by Burn After Reading, and closed on September 6,2008. International competition jury, led by Wim Wenders, awarded Leone dOro to The Wrestler, 77-year-old Italian film director Ermanno Olmi received a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. The festival opened on August 27,2008, with the anticipated film directed by the Coen brothers. Unlike the Cannes Film Festival, American filmmakers have only won the coveted prize at Venice. It is also famine for British films, as none were selected for competition in this years festival, despite the dearth of English-speaking films, several films at the fest are likely to make a splash at this years Oscars in Hollywood. A trend has been several films launched in Venice have gone on to garner multiple Academy Award nominations. In 2005, Taiwan-born director Ang Lees film, Brokeback Mountain earned its director a Best Director Oscar, lee has won the top prize at Venice twice in the past few years. The glamour of the Venice Film Festival as well as the link with the upcoming Academy Awards has helped raise the Venice Film Festivals profile. Nonetheless, the event has a reputation for showcasing emerging cinema, including films from Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Festival organizers have announced that the festivals shorts competition will begin on September 1 with Natalie Portmans directorial debut, rising Russian star Kseniya Rappoport will also host the opening and closing ceremonies. German independent film director Wim Wenders will head the Venice film jury, vianello subsequently declared the strike illegal, but if it goes ahead, ordinary festivalgoers may find themselves traveling with the stars. The festival will close on September 6,2008 and this years Venice Film Festivals film selections had been widely criticized as being among the weakest in years, with some publications even describing it as the worst ever. Later showings made It improve from bad to better, but it might have too late. The 65th Venice International Film Festival will be dedicated to the late Egyptian director Youssef Chahine, Chahine who died recently at age 82, was a notable in post-war Arab cinema. Festival director Marco Mueller said, Who else could have succeeded in mixing the philosopher Averroes with Fred Astaire, thats what cinema should be about, Mueller said, referring to Chahines film Destiny. Of the 52 films selected to screen at this years Venice Mostra, most of the films at Venice will be world premieres, including the things that go boom psychological thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker. The film deals with the physical and emotional strains faced by EOD bomb squads in Iraq, also premiering at the festival is home-grown favorite Birdwatcher directed by Italys own Marco Bechis. Other strong contenders for the coveted Golden Lion award are the Darren Aronofsky directed film, The Wrestler, with no British pictures and a diminished U. S
3.
Il Messaggero
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Il Messaggero is an Italian newspaper based in Rome, Italy. Il Messaggero was founded in December 1878, on 1 January 1879 the first issue of Il Messaggero was published under the management of Luigi Cesana. The paper aimed at being the newspapers of newspapers and at providing its readers with all opinions, the first four copies of the paper were delivered as free samples to the subscribers of the newspaper, Il Fanfulla. Since its inception Il Messaggero has been owned by different companies, one of the former owners is Montedison through the Ferruzzi Group. In 1996 the paper was acquired by Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone and he founded the Caltagirone Editore in 1999. The company is the majority owner of the paper which has its 90% and its leaders include Azzurra Caltagirone, the partner of the political leader Pierferdinando Casini, on its board. The company also owns Corriere Adriatico and Il Mattino, the publisher of the daily is Il Messaggero S. p. A. Il Messaggero is published in format and is based in Rome. In addition to its edition the paper has 12 local editions, including those for the regions of Lazio, Umbria, Marche, Abruzzo. The daily has a left political leaning. The 1988 circulation of Il Messaggero was 370,000 copies and it was the sixth best-selling Italian newspaper in 1997 with a circulation of 256,400 copies. The paper had a circulation of 288,000 copies in 1999, in 2000 the circulation of the paper was 292,000 copies. Its circulation was 293,000 copies in 2001 and 258,538 copies in 2002, the circulation of the paper was 252,000 copies in 2003 and 240,778 copies in 2004. The paper had a circulation of 230,697 copies in 2005 and its circulation was 216,000 copies in 2007. In 2012 Il Messaggero sold 91,012,767 copies
4.
Gianni Amelio
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Gianni Amelio is an Italian film director. Amelio was born in San Pietro di Magisano, province of Catanzaro and his father moved to Argentina soon after his birth. He spent his youth and adolescence with his mother and his grandmother, the absence of a paternal figures will be a constant in Amelios future works. During his university studies of philosophy in Messina, Amelio got interested in cinema, in 1965 he moved to Rome, where he worked as operator and assistant director for figures such as Liliana Cavani and Vittorio De Seta. He also worked for television, directing documentaries and advertisements, Amelios first important work is the TV film La città del sole, directed in 1973 for RAI TV and inspired to Tommaso Campanellas work. This was followed by Bertolucci secondo il cinema a documentary about 1900 shooting, two years later he directed the mystery La morte al lavoro, which won prizes at Locarno and Hyères festivals. Il piccolo Archimede of 1979 was also critically acclaimed, in 1982 he debuted for cinema proper with Colpire al cuore, about Italian terrorism, presented at the Venice Film Festival. 1989s Porte aperte, featuring Gian Maria Volontè, confirmed Amelios status as one of Italys best film directors, the film received also 4 Felix,2 Silver Ribbon,4 David di Donatello and 3 Golden Globes awards. Also successful was Il ladro di bambini in 1992, which won the Special Prize of Jury at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival plus two Silver Ribbon and 5 David di Donatello. In 1994 Lamerica, about Albanian immigration in Italy, repeated the fate, four years later, Così ridevano won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Amelio gained another Silver Ribbon as best director for Le chiavi di casa, inspired to a novel by Giuseppe Pontiggia, Amelio was a member of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995. In 2006 he released his eighth film, La stella che non cè
5.
Divorce Italian Style
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Divorce Italian Style is a 1961 Italian comedy film directed by Pietro Germi. The screenplay was written by Ennio De Concini, Pietro Germi, Alfredo Giannetti and it stars Marcello Mastroianni, Daniela Rocca, Stefania Sandrelli, Lando Buzzanca, and Leopoldo Trieste. The movie won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen, Mastroianni was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Ferdinando Cefalù, an impoverished Sicilian nobleman, is married to Rosalia, an unattractive but devoted wife. At a beach, he has a daydream of his wife in quicksand, after a chance encounter with Angela during a family trip, he discovers that she shares his feelings. He then also procures the State Prosecutors friendship with small favors, the final stage of his plan is arranging to have Carmelos constant presence in his house, which is achieved by his interest in having his palace frescoes restored. The plan takes a while to get off the ground, because Carmelo is very shy, Ferdinando is aware of the development of his plan because he has been taping all their conversations and has to ward off the helps infatuation with Carmelo. During his monitoring of the plan, Ferdinando discovers that Carmelo is actually married with three children and a philanderer who could be easily distracted by any other passing skirt. All Ferdinando knows is that it take place the next evening. Ferdinando sneaks out of the theatre and goes back to the palace and he initially has to run out after her but still has to retrieve the gun to kill the couple, and as a result he misses the train and the lovers in it. All the while Angela has been writing to Ferdinando to assure him of her love no matter what, however. At the funeral, Ferdinando is approached by Mrs. Patanè who demands to know what he will do to avenge their situation. Since Ferdinando is still doing nothing, she spits in his face in front of the town, which gives him all that he needed. The local mafia boss offers to find the lovers within 24 hours, as Ferdinando goes to the lovers hideout, he comes across Mrs. Patanè, who has just shot her husband, which actually leaves him in a worse position than before. As he sees no choice, he follows in Mrs. Patanès footsteps. During his trial he is defended by the State Prosecutor who blames the whole thing on Ferdinandos father. He spends no more than three years in jail and finally back home to find a loving Angela waiting for him. In the films epilogue, Ferdinando and Angela are sailing away on a sailboat, Ferdinando states life begins at 40 as the camera pans down, revealing Angela seductively rubbing her feet against the workman steering the boat. This film won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen, the film was also entered into the 1962 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the prize for Best Comedy
6.
Il Sorpasso
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Il Sorpasso is a 1962 Italian cult movie comedy film co-written and directed by Dino Risi and starring Vittorio Gassman, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Catherine Spaak. It is considered Risis masterpiece and one of the famous examples of Commedia allitaliana film genre. The film starts in a hazy, sun-baked and seemingly empty Rome on an August morning during Ferragosto holiday, the young man tells him to come up and make the call himself. Tired of studying for the day and falling prey to Brunos enthusiasm, thus begins a cruise along the Via Aurelia, the Roman road that also gives the name to Brunos beloved car. Roberto is unwilling or unable to part from this casual acquaintance despite having almost nothing in common with him, Bruno is loud, brash, risk taking, a bit coarse and a braggart, to boot. He drives recklessly, speeding and constantly attempting il Sorpasso — the impatient, but he is also charming and likable. And Roberto, being his complete opposite, feels drawn to Brunos impulsive, over two days of highs and lows across the coasts of Lazio and Tuscany, the two men fall into various adventures while gradually managing to learn something of each other. When, for example, the duo spontaneously drops in on Robertos relatives, en route, and later he finds out about Brunos failed marriage and young daughter, revealing a life not nearly as carefree as Bruno pretends to lead. When this free-wheeling road-trip movie crescendos to its ending, the bonding and emerging friendship between the two men is cut short. Spurred on by a seemingly transformed Roberto, Bruno speeds while attempting to overtake another car on the curve of a cliffside road. This risky maneuver results in a fatal accident, the younger man goes over a rocky cliff in the car, leaving a bloodied and shocked Bruno on the curves edge. When a motorway cop arrives and asks Bruno for Robertos last name, the movie is considered as one of the best examples of Commedia allItaliana. The Roman customizer crew Emporio Elaborazioni Meccaniche dedicated a customized bike to the movie and they named a MotoGuzzi V11 cafe racer, Sorpasso
