Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
Roberto Rossellini’s “Viaggio in Italia” (“Journey to Italy”), restored in 4K by Cinecittà, was screened at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival in September as part of the Venice Classics program.
The screening of the 1954 film, starring Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders, commemorated the 120th anniversary of Rossellini’s birth.
“Roberto Rossellini was one of the greatest minds and most generous spirits Italian cinema has ever given to the world,” said Manuela Cacciamani, CEO of Cinecittà, in a statement about the screening. “Above all, he was a filmmaker who gave cinema the freedom to break the rules, to see the world and human relationships in new ways, and to express what he felt through an entirely new cinematic language.”
During the restoration project, Cinecittà said one of the biggest challenges with the original camera negative was that numerous sections had been replaced over time with duplicate negatives that showed substantial image degradation and clear signs of deterioration. Restorers located and reinstated the original camera negative for four of these sequences, allowing their original photographic quality to be recovered.
“The restoration carried out by the Cinecittà laboratories brings renewed brilliance to an extraordinary film that reminds us of Italy’s pivotal role in the history of cinema,” Cacciamani said. “Celebrating the 120th anniversary of Rossellini’s birth, and doing so in Venice, is a tremendous honor for Cinecittà.”
The film, which follows a wealthy English couple as they travel through Capri and Naples to manage a property inheritance, is not only an introspection of their relationship but also a love letter to Naples and its rich history. The film features a tour of art and artifacts from Pompeii, the area’s volcanic sulfur springs, and the famous Fontanelle Cemetery, which contains the “anime pezzentelle,” human remains that belonged to the victims of a plague that swept across Italy in 1656 and a cholera epidemic that struck in 1836. Documentary filmmaker Luigi Di Gianni featured the cemetery in his 1962 film, “Grazia e numeri.”
The original version of the film is available on several streaming platforms, including Amazon and Tubi, where you can stream it free of charge.
