Fellini’s Rome: visiting locations from La dolce vita

If asked to choose a film that defined the city of Rome on screen, the chances are that the answer from many film fans would be Federico Fellini’s La dolce vita (1960). Much emulated though never bettered, Fellini’s vast and expansive drama following Roman society’s various social strata is as much a beautiful exploration of 1960s Italian urbanity as it is a biting satire on Roman sophisticates.

La dolce vita follows a week in the life of Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni), a journalist navigating the glamorous but decadent world of Rome’s high society. Over seven distinct episodes, Marcello wanders through a series of encounters and events, searching for meaning and fulfilment. As he parties with socialites, mingles with celebrities, and covers sensational stories, he becomes aware of the emptiness and superficiality of the elite. He engages in numerous romantic liaisons, including his on-off relationship with Emma (Yvonne Ferneaux), though to little satisfaction. Instead Marcello’s life is shown as a contrasting struggle between his desire for a more meaningful existence and his attraction to empty hedonism.

Fellini’s film critiques modern Rome and its opulence, but his dreamlike vision of the city is really an extensive collage rather than purely accurate or realistic. Made-up clubs materialise in historic ruins, picturesque tourist sites become hauntingly empty, and even one of the city’s most famous roads is largely a studio recreation rather than the real thing.

Here are five key locations from La dolce vita as they stand today.

The opening shot of La dolce vita is one of the most famous in Italian cinema. A statue of Christ is being transported across Rome by helicopter, the holy image symbolically appearing above the whole urban vista. The first shot of this sequence is of a football ground next to a ruin.

The ruins seen in the background make up the Parco degli Acquedotti, a public green space south of the city structured around the remains of an ancient aqueduct. The football pitch also remains almost exactly as it was.

The helicopter flies on past a few more fragments of the aqueduct, with the sections seen in the film also still standing.

Though more famous for its sequence at the Trevi Fountain, La dolce vita also features a prior scene at a public fountain. Earlier in the week, Marcello takes a drive with Maddalena (Anouk Aimée) and heads to the Piazza del Popolo. The space has been opened out a little more today, with a wall having vanished and a statue also replaced.

The fountain seen in the background is the Fontana del Nettuno, which is one of the younger locations used by Fellini in his film, having originally been built in 1822. Today it is as it was.

We get a better view of the fountain when Maddalena gets out of the car and wanders around, though the square itself is largely obscured due to filming at night.

They meet local prostitute Ninni (Adriana Moneta) at the top of the fountain, who is plying for trade on the other side of the fountain’s wall. This is an impossible scenario as the fountain is raised and doesn’t descend to the level of the road behind. Thus it would likely have required a fair bit of climbing on Ninni’s part.

The location is also appropriate for Fellini as he lived just around the corner with Giulietta Masina in Via Margutta. Film fans will also know the road from William Wyler’s Roman Holiday (1953) as it is where Gregory Peck’s character has his flat.

A plaque adorns the house today celebrating the connection. Judging by the style, it looks to have been carved by Sandro Fiorentini of the road’s famous La Bottega del Mamoraro.

The film’s most famous sequence takes place in one of Rome’s most popular locations: Fontana di Trevi. Fellini’s film undoubtedly played a role in its ever-growing popularity with tourists, so the depiction of it as an empty space in the film feels utterly alien compared to how busy it is today.

When Marcello is wandering at night with famous film star Sylvia (Anita Ekberg), she decides to wander into the fountain itself. This is now a criminal offence.

Marcello is seen watching her from the steps leading down from Piazza di Trevi, which is somewhat busier on my visit than on the evening we see in the film.

Another shot shows Sylvia enjoying herself in the fountain. This was the only shot possible to recreate with the same peacefulness of the scene in the film.

Marcello finally joins Sylvia in the fountain only to be brought out of their trance by the water stopping. The fountain is pretty much as it was though is evidently cleaned more regularly than in the 1960s due to the sheer volume of tourists visiting the site.

A great trick of Fellini’s in La dolce vita is in recreating one of Rome’s most famous, bustling streets: Via Veneto. Such was the popularity of the street at the time, it likely made more sense than trying to close it off for filming. However, Fellini aids his illusion with a handful of real shots of the road, such as this one looking north.

Another shot looking north up the street was also real, and was likely taken from a moving car.

One of the other intriguing shots that appears to be real is the one that follows. Although we can’t be sure, the building in the back appears to be Café de Paris, one of the strip’s famous bars. Certainly the grating matches.

Despite the fact that the road was mostly recreated in a studio, its connection with Fellini is still celebrated, as he managed to capture its vibrant character for posterity before many of its bars and clubs closed down. A plaque in Fellini’s honour sits on the road today.

Via Veneto also appears in another of the film’s segments. After their midnight meander in the Fontana di Trevi, Marcello and Sylvia head back to the hotel where she’s staying. They arrive on foot on Via Veneto where they find the paparazzi waiting around Marcello’s car.

Fellini provides a longer shot of the road when the pair is first noticed wandering back to the hotel.

As they get closer to the hotel, Fellini follows the press harassing the pair alongside the wall of the hotel. Aside from being a bit leafier, the distinctive building is still recognisable.

Sylvia finally enters the main gateway of the hotel where she is staying. The hotel is the Westin Excelsior, still one of city’s most historic and lavish establishments.

We see Sylvia finally leave Marcello through the hotel’s revolving door, running away from the bust-up she has moments before with her boyfriend. Marcello wanders on as he leaves this episode of his life behind while Rome slowly awakens for another chaotic day.

IMDb