Sunday, July 31, 2011

Weekend postcards: Rome and Milan in black and white



Today we have a double shot of black-and-white Italian postcards, per the request of one of the followers of Papergreat's Twitter account. Both postcards are from the late 1950s or early 1960s.

The top postcard shows central Rome and an avenue leading straight to the Colosseum, which can be seen in the distance. The printed text on the front of the postcard states:

ROMA PANORAMA DAL VITTORIANO COL COLOSSEO
FORO ROMANO E PALATINO


The second postcard showcases the Piazza della Scala, a square in Milan. It was mailed with the 100-lire stamp pictured at right. The building pictured in the center of the postcard is La Scala, a famous opera house that opened in 1778.

These Italian scenes from a half-century ago make me think of the Italian neorealism, one of my favorite subgenres of film.1

Here are clips from three personal favorites from that genre. (And, yes, I am aware that of these three movies, only "Umberto D." is considered to be 100% Italian neorealism.)

"La Strada" (1954) by Federico Fellini



"Il Posto" (1961) by Ermanno Olmi



"Umberto D." (1952) by Vittorio De Sica



Footnotes
1. Some of my other favorite film genres are obscure documentaries, Akira Kurosawa films, Paul Thomas Anderson films, zombie films and whatever subgenre includes "The Karate Kid" but none of its ridiculous sequels or remakes.

1 comment:

  1. I think that in the postcard of Rome it's written
    "FORO" and not "FORD"....

    ReplyDelete