Dolce Vita Confidential: Fellini, Loren, Pucci, Paparazzi, and the Swinging High Life of 1950s Rome

by Shawn Levy

Overview

A romp through the worlds of film, fashion, and titillating journalism that made 1950s Rome the sexiest city on the planet.

From the ashes of World War II, Rome was reborn as the epicenter of film, fashion, creative energy, tabloid media, and bold-faced libertinism that made “Italian” a global synonym for taste, style, and flair. A confluence of cultural contributions created a bright, burning moment in history: it was the heyday of fashion icons such as Pucci, whose use of color, line, and superb craftsmanship set the standard for women’s clothing for decades, and Brioni, whose confident and classy creations for men inspired the contemporary American suit. Rome’s huge movie studio, Cinecittà, also known as “Hollywood-on-the Tiber,” attracted a dizzying array of stars from Charleton Heston, Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner, and Frank Sinatra to that stunning and combustible couple, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, who began their extramarital affair during the making of Cleopatra. And behind these stars trailed street photographers—Tazio Secchiarioli, Pierluigi Praturlon, and Marcello Gepetti—who searched, waited, and pounced on their subjects in pursuit of the most unflattering and dramatic portraits of fame.

Fashionistas, exiles, moguls, and martyrs flocked to Rome hoping for a chance to experience and indulge in the glow of old money, new stars, fast cars, wanton libidos, and brazen news photographers. The scene was captured nowhere better than in Federico Fellini’s masterpiece, La Dolce Vita, starring Marcello Mastroianni and the Swedish bombshell Anita Ekberg. It was condemned for its licentiousness, when in fact Fellini was condemning the very excess, narcissism, and debauchery of Rome’s bohemian scene.

Gossipy, colorful, and richly informed, Dolce Vita Confidential re-creates Rome’s stunning ascent with vivid and compelling tales of its glitterati and artists, down to every last outrageous detail of the city’s magnificent transformation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393247589
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	10/04/2016
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Shawn Levy is a former film critic for The Oregonian and the best-selling author of Rat Pack Confidential and Paul Newman: A Life. He reviews movies for KGW-TV and lives in Portland, Oregon.

Table of Contents

Prologue xi

Introduction xvi

1 Buzzing Through Ruins 1

2 "An Old River Among the Great Hotels" 8

3 Made in Italy 25

4 "The Three-Sided Mirror" 34

5 "Paris Didn't Move Us Like This" 45

6 "Motion Pictures Are the Most Powerful Weapon" 57

7 "Hollywood on the Tiber" 72

8 Scattini and Fumetti 79

9 A Girl on a Beach 87

10 A Nose for the Shot 98

11 The Curvy Girls 103

12 "She Will Be a Sensation" 111

13 "She's Impossible to Photograph" 122

14 "I'm a Peasant" 135

15 Signor Sigarone 144

16 "Sit Down, If You Dare" 151

17 "Florence Is a Lost Cause" 160

18 "A Fine Race Horse and a Goat" 178

19 "A Charnel House Under a Green Marquee" 193

20 "Poor Starving Devils" 225

21 "We Take Their Pictures and They Beat Us Up" 238

22 "The Most Sinful, Transgressive Thing" 248

23 Babylon, 2000 Years After Christ 257

24 "Poor You" 287

25 "I Am Not a Sexy Pot" 309

26 You've Done It, You've Won" 321

27 "A Ravenous Wolf Pack" 331

28 "Everybody Becomes a Roman Within Three Days" 338

29 "There's No Erotic Charge in Me" 350

30 "We Are on Stage All the Time" 365

31 "Please Stop Crying!" 374

Acknowledgments 395

Notes 399

Bibliography 411

Illustration Credits 423

Index 425

Editorial Reviews

08/29/2016
In this fast-paced, detailed study, film critic Levy (Rat Pack Confidential) turns his attention to Rome in the 1950s and ’60s—a city that, he argues, became the standard for every other cultural hub in the world. This is a grandiose claim, but Levy successfully supports it. He begins with an eclectic portrait of Rome’s rise out of the ashes of WWII into a metropolis: its cafes brimming with artists and writers, its cinema industry swelling from the elaborate patronage under Mussolini, and, in the middle of it all, the emergence of a new professional group, the paparazzi. The occasionally overwrought tone of Levy’s prose is mitigated by his obvious enthusiasm for his subject and the sheer breadth of information. Levy moves from homicide investigations to the history of “Hollywood on the Tiber,” and with the legendary Federico Fellini as a through-line, this becomes a fascinating look at decades of Italian cultural history. Eight pages of photos. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"Dolce Vita Confidential is so much fun that after a few pages you’ll want to set it aside, tie on a chic little scarf, jump on a Vespa, and cry 'ciao' as you buzz past corner cafes and flower stands."

Portland Tribune

"Over 400 spirited and frothy pages, [Levy] carries us on a speedy Vespa ride....the book delights."

Portland Mercury

"Levy's absorbing, well-researched book exalts the intoxicating, beguiling dreaminess of Rome in its celluloid heyday."

Times Literary Supplement

"Uproariously readable....[Levy] tells some terrific, if dreadful, stories about the convergence of noblemen and actresses....He is a master of the group biography, pacing his chapters for maximum suspense and revelation....The climactic story is a humdinger....Wickedly readable."

The Sunday Times

09/01/2016
In the years immediately following World War II, the city of Rome began a particular kind of resurgence. It not only found its footing economically, it also became the destination from which to take a peek at the sweet life, or la dolce vita. Much of the allure of this famous city grew from the media, specifically the film industry and the paparazzi, who fanatically sought resident film stars, politicians, and anyone who could add a touch of drama to the tabloid press. Levy (King of Comedy; Rat Pack Confidential) brings this vibrant time to life by focusing on, among others, Federico Fellini, Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Roberto Rossellini, and all those in orbit around them. The author's style relates a strong journalistic ear, yet clearly Levy is a fan of tabloid gossip. The bibliography even comes with a "films watched" section, an almost definitive selection of movies that document 1950s Rome. VERDICT An enjoyable and informative read about an exciting and colorful period in Roman history and the history of popular culture.—Peter Thornell, Hingham P.L., MA

Library Journal

2016-07-19
A cultural history reveals an effervescent decade of riches in postwar Rome.In this ebullient tour of Rome in the 1950s, film critic and celebrity biographer Levy (De Niro: A Life, 2014, etc.) portrays the city as a burgeoning center of fashion, photography, and, especially, movies. The star of the book—and the most glittering star to emerge from the period—is Sophia Loren, “the greatest living vessel of any number of traits associated with Italy: sensuality, practicality, endurance, glamour, an ironic sense of humor, a zest for the simple pleasures of life.” At first sight, gushes the author, Loren stood out as “one of those superhuman creatures known as movie stars.” Loren, though, is not alone in meriting Levy’s attention. The author traces Federico Fellini’s career from the time he was a journalist to his triumphs as a director, focusing on the conception, casting, and filming of the controversial La Dolce Vita (1960), starring Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg, and 8 ½ (1963), the film that “mixed dream and nightmare and fantasy and real life,” and which some critics deemed the director’s masterpiece. Others colorfully portrayed in Levy’s large cast include actresses Anna Magnani, Gina Lollobrigida (beautiful, but hardly comparable to Loren), Ingrid Bergman, Ava Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor, and Audrey Hepburn; directors Michelangelo Antonioni, Vittorio De Sica, Roberto Rossellini, and Pier Paolo Pasolini; fashion designers Emilio Pucci, Simonetta, and Valentino; and assorted playboys such as Porfirio Rubirosa, who frequented the posh clubs and restaurants on the Via Veneto. That street, and the Trevi Fountain, in which Ekberg famously cooled her feet, mark two of the only sites that Levy describes; physical Rome recedes as he focuses on personalities, careers, and piles of celebrity gossip. To that end, he follows the careers of Rome’s famous photographers, dubbed paparazzi after Fellini portrayed them in La Dolce Vita as “a writhing, snapping, shouting mass.” Levy’s spirited history is nothing less than a love letter to Rome’s luxurious, sensational past.

Kirkus Reviews

"Details the fashion and cinema of 1950s Rome—from Pucci to Peck—with love."

Vanity Fair

"An exciting account of a revolution in art and society."

The Spectator

"Levy’s absorbing, well-researched book exalts the intoxicating, beguiling dreaminess of Rome in its celluloid heyday."

The Times Literary Supplement

"Shawn Levy has composed an exuberant portrait of postwar Rome and the filmmakers, movie stars, fashion designers, journalists, and paparazzi whose supreme hunger, energy, and creativity transformed it into the most stylish city in the world. He brings an infectious and freewheeling enthusiasm to every page as he reintroduces us to the extravagant romanticism of fast cars, reckless hedonism, and beautiful people behind the resurrection of the Eternal City."

Glenn Frankel

"Dolce Vita Confidential is so much fun that after a few pages you’ll want to set it aside, tie on a chic little scarf, jump on a Vespa, and cry ‘ciao’ as you buzz past corner cafés and flower stands."

The Portland Tribune

"In a brisk, frothy narrative....Levy has a passion for mid-century Italian cinema and is at his best when writing about its giants."

The Wall Street Journal

"Levy captures much of the excitement of that time and place in a prose style that is teeming with satisfying gossipy details."

The Guardian

"Levy’s research is deep and his details are revealing....[he] chronicles Fellini and Mastroianni’s collaboration with insight and affection."

Newsday

"Comprehensive and exuberant."

Toronto Globe and Mail

"Levy's spirited history is nothing less than a love letter to Rome's luxurious, sensational past." ---Kirkus

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