Introduction to European Studies

1
Introduction to European Studies

• History, society and cinema in post-war Italy

2
(No Transcript)
3
Republic of Italy Facts

• Official Name
• Republica Italiana
• Form of government
• Republic with two houses Senate (upper house
  322), Chamber of Deputies (lower house 630)
• Electoral system
• Proportional representation
• Chief of state
• President

• Capital
• Rome (Roma)
• Official language
• Italian
• Official religion
• None
• Monetary unit
• Euro
• Population
• 59,051,000

4
Republic of Italy Facts

• Area sq. kilometers
• 1. Russia 3,960,000
• 2. Ukraine 603,700
• 3. France 547,030
• 4. Spain 505,992
• 5. Sweden 449,964
• 6. Norway 385,155
• 7. Germany 357,050
• 8. Finland 338,145
• 9. Poland 312,685
• 10. Italy 301,318

• Population (EU)
• 1. Germany 82,210,000
• 2. France 63,753,140
• 3. UK 60,587,300
• 4. Italy 59,337,888
• 5. Spain 45,116,894
• 6. Poland 38,115,967
• 7. Romania 21,565,119
• 8. Netherlands
• 16,372,715
• 9. Greece 11,125,179
• 10. Portugal 10,599,095

5
Republic of Italy Facts

• GDP 2010 (US Dollars)
• 1  USA 14,657,80
• 2   China 5,878,28
• 3  Japan 5,458,87
• 4  Germany 3,315,64
• 5  France 2,582,53
• 6 UK 2,247,46
• 7  Brazil 2,090,31
• 8 Italy 2,055,11
• 9  Canada 1,574,05
• 10  India 1,572,84

• GDP 1950 (US Dollars)
• 1 USA 1,455,916
• 2 USSR 550,756
• 3 UK 347,850
• 4 W. Germany 265,354
• 5 China 244,985
• 6 India 222,222
• 7 France 220,492
• 8 Italy 164,957
• 9 Japan 160,966
• 10 Mexico 67,368

6
Post-war Italian Economy

• From one of the weakest in Europe to one of the
  strongest
• Metallurgical, manufacturing, Chemical and
  textile industries
• Tourism
• Lack of raw materials and energy sources
• More than 4/5 of energy requirements imported
• Mixture of liberal trade policies and
  entrepreneur spirits with cumbersome
  bureaucracies and inefficient planning

7
Italian Cultural Economy

• Motorcars
• Mass market cars
• FIAT Alfa Romeo Lancia
• Sports car manufacturers
• Ferrari Maserati Lamborghini
• Motorcycles
• Vespa Piaggio
• Ducati

8
Italian Cultural Economy

• Milan as a fashion centre
• From craftsmen to celebrity designers
• From tailors to fashion houses
• Valentino - founded by Valentino Garavani at Via
  Condotti, Rome in 1965
• Armani - founded by Giorgio Armani and Sergio
  Galeotti in Milan,1975
• Versace - founded by Gianni Versace in Milan,1978
• Dolce Gabbana - founded by Domenico Dolce and
  Stefano Gabbana in Milan 1985

9
Italian Cultural Economy

• Tourism in Italy
• Geographical advantage
• The Alps to the north
• Surrounded by the Mediterranean, the Tyrrhenian,
  the Ionian and the Adriatic seas
• From arctic to semi-tropical weather
• Historical advantage
• From the Roman Empire, through the Renaissance
  and the Baroque to the modern

• UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Europe
• 1. Italy 46
• 2. Spain 43
• 3. France 37
• 4. Germany 35
• 5. UK 28
• 6. Russia 24
• 7. Greece 17
• 8. Sweden 14
• 9. Poland 13
• 9. Portugal 13

10
Italian Cultural Economy

• Ancient and archaeological sites
• A group of Greek temples in Val di Tempi in
  Agrigento, Sicily
• Etruscan remains in Central Italy Etruscan towns
  such as Cervetelli and Tarquinia

11
Italian Cultural Economy

• Heritage of the Roman Empire
• Roma as Imperial city
• Roman resorts such as Pompeii, Islands of Ischia
  and Capri, and Paestum
• Civil engineer heritage towns, Via Appia,
  aquaduct, theatres and public buildings

12
Italian Cultural Economy

• Early Christian and Mediaeval Heritage
• Churches and monasteries
• Mosaics in Ravenna
• Mediaeval towns in Central Italy such as Firenze,
  Pisa, Siena, Assisi, and Padova

13
Italian Cultural Economy

• Renaissance art, architecture and monuments
• Leonardos Last Supper at Santa Maria delle
  Grazie in Milan
• Basilica of San Pietro in Rome
• Renaissance cities and towns throughout Italy
  such as Ferarra and Pienza

14
Italian Cultural Economy

• Baroque art, architecture and monuments
• Many representative palaces and churches in
  Venice are Baroque build in the 17th century
• Baroque towns of Noto in Sicily and Lecce, Puglia

15
Italian Cultural Economy

• The 18th-century royal palaces and residences
• The Royal Palace in Torino built for the Savoy
  Kings
• The Royal Palace at Caserta built for the Bourbon
  kings of Naples

16
Italian Cultural Economy

• Alpine resorts in the north
• The Dolomite valley in the north-east and the
  Aosta valley in the north-west
• Numerous sea-side resorts on the mainland and
  islands

17
Modern Italian Culture

• Modern Italian Art
• Amadeo Modigliani (1884-1920) - a painter and
  sculptor inspired by primitive art
• Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978) - pre-surrealist,
  known for metaphysical painting

18
Modern Italian Culture

• Musicians - pianists, violinists, conductors,
  composers of classical music
• Opera singers
• Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)
• Luciano Pavarotti (1935-2007)

19
Alberto Moravia (1907-90), Primo Levi
(1919-1987), Italo Calvino (1923-85), Umberto Eco
(1932- )
20
Modern Italian Culture

• One of the greatest sporting nations in the world
• Football - World champion four times (1934, 1938,
  1982, 2006) Germany (3), England (1), France (1),
  Brazil (5)
• Cycling - National Sports Giro dItalia

21
Modern Italian Culture

• Motor Sports
• Formula 1 Team Ferrari
• Motorcycle races
• Winter sports - alpine skiing

22
Modern Italian Culture

• Design houses furniture, interior and
  kitchenware
• Traditional design and craft leather, paper,
  woodwork, stonework, porcelain

23
The War

• Domination of the fascists in Benito Mussolinis
  regime
• Long, bloody conflicts between fascists
  (fascista) and resistant (partegiano)

24
The End of the War

• Europe in Ruins Over 35,000,000 dead

Country Military Deaths Civilian Deaths Total Deaths to Population
Italy 301,400 145,100 457,000 1.03
Germany 5,553,000 1,000 to 3,228,000 6,716 to 9,000,000 8 to 10.6
USSR 8,800 to 10,700,000 12,254 to 14,154,000 23,954,000 14.21
UK 383,600 67,100 450,700 0.94
France 217,600 267,000 567,600 1.35
USA 416,800 1,700 418,500 0.32
25
The End of the War

• Severe material restrictions / dire economic
  situation / desperate financial situation
• Social Problems
• Unemployment, poverty, high inflation, political
  instability, social conflicts

26
The End of the War

• Italys indigenous and traditional problems
• Economic exploitation and social injustice land
  owning ruling classes and industrialists vs
  peasants and working classes
• Geographical divide - industrial north and
  agricultural south (mezzogiorno)
• Political corruption

27
Cinema
28
Two Vital Times for Italian Cinema

• Cultural freedom and new burst of creativity
• TWO GOLDEN PERIODS
• Immediately after the war till the beginning of
  the 50s films reflecting the realities of
  contemporary Italy
• From the end of the fifties to around 1964 films
  looking at the past and present of Italy

29
Filmmaking in the Wake of the War

• The First Golden Age
• Three interlocking groups of filmmakers
• 1. Those associated with the Communist
• Resistance - Luchino Visconti, Michelangelo
  
• Antonioni, Puccini brothers, Giuseppe di
• Santis
• 2. Roberto Rossellini and Federico Fellini
• 3. Vittorio de Sica and Cesare Zavattini
• They all started making movies just before or
  just after the end of the war.

30
Filmmaking in the Wake of the War

• All the works of these filmmakers were response
  to the terrible moments of Italys modern history
• Fascism and the Resistance
• The scar of the war
• Poverty and unemployment after the war
• Economic exploitation and social injustice
• Political corruption
• South and north divide
• Something still found in prosperous and affluent
  contemporary Italy

31
Roberto Rossellini

• Roma, Citta Aperta (1945)
• A documentary-like fiction film about the
  struggle of resistance fighters and their
  families against the occupying German forces.

32
Roberto Rossellini

• Paisa (1946)
• The film consists of six episodes, which traces
  the liberation of Italy by the Allies from the
  landing of the Allied in Sicily through victories
  in central Italy to the final fall down of the
  Nazi occupation.

33
Luchino Visconti

• La Terra Trema (1948)
• In rural Sicily, the fishermen live at the mercy
  of the greedy wholesalers. One family risks
  everything to buy their own boat and operate
  independently. However, they lose everything in
  a storm and have to get their house repossed by a
  bank.

34
Luchino Visconti

• Rocco e suoi fratelli (1960) - it tells a story
  of a family which comes to industrial Milan to
  escape the poverty stricken South but gradually
  disintegrate in the large, modern city.

35
Vittori De Sica

• Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves, 1948)
• A drama about a father and a son who are
  searching their bicycle, which is stolen on the
  first day of work after being out of work for two
  years.

36
Vittorio De Sica

• Umberto D (1952)
• About a retired civil servant desperately trying
  to maintain the decent standard of living on
  dwindling state pension in the midst of crazy
  post-war inflation.
• 16 in 1949

37
Giuseppe di Santis

• Rise Amaro (Bitter rice, 1949) - two criminals
  take refuge in a rice farm in the north which
  employs a large number of immigrant workers from
  the south. Adulterous love, robbery and murder
  take place in the farm.

38
Pietro Germi

• Il Ferroviere (The Railroad Man, 1956) - a
  hardworking engine driver who loves his family
  involves railway accident and is suspended from
  driving engine. His life is in near ruin but he
  tries to prove his innocence.

39
Federico Fellini

• I Vitelloni (1953)
• About five young friends from a local seafront
  town, Rimini, desperately trying to find the aim
  of living. Some are desperately trying to leave
  the sleepy provincial town for large cities.

40
Federico Fellini

• La Strada (1954)
• Story about a carnival strongman Zanpano and his
  simple minded assistant Gelsomina, who are
  travelling around poverty stricken areas of Italy.

41
The Vital Time for Italy and Italian Cinema

• Generally labeled and known as Neo-realism.
• NEOREALISTS COMMUNICATED TO THE WORLD EVERYTHING
  THE COUNTRY HAD TO GO THROUGH
• In the process they changed the entire rule of
  movie making
• Subject matter - contemporary social problems
• Film Style - location shooting, non-professional
  actors, simple technique

42
Essay Title

• Watch one Italian film or one film about Italy
  and describe what aspects of the post-war Italian
  society is reflected in it.