Italy paid tribute Monday to two of its cinematic icons as actress Anita Ekberg, 83, and director Francesco Rosi, 92, passed away at weekend.
Ekberg, who passed away in a clinic just outside Rome on
Sunday, was only 29 when she acted in what became an iconic
scene in Federico Fellini's 1960 film La Dolce Vita.
The scene in which the seductive blonde diva waded into the
waters of the Trevi Fountain in a strapless black gown, calling
out to co-star Marcello Mastroianni became an instant classic as
it etched an indelible idea of the city in its glamorous Via
Veneto heyday into the collective cinema-going memory.
"With the passing of Anita Ekberg, the film world loses a
great actress and Rome loses an icon of the city, an image of
the capital in the eyes of the world," said Rome Mayor Ignazio
Marino on Sunday.
One of the original "paparazzi" from the period portrayed
in the film, photographer Rino Barillari, told ANSA that the
former Miss Sweden was herself the epitome of the Dolce Vita.
"Our city and its 'dolce vita' have remained famous for so
long thanks to her, the beautiful foreigner," Barillari said.
Meanwhile on Monday, Italy's cinema world mourned the
passing of director Francesco Rosi, who died in his home in
Rome on Saturday.
Rosi directed award-winning films tackling corruption and
injustice in postwar Italy.
His film about political corruption, Hands on the City,
took the Golden Lion at Venice in 1963, while his The Mattei
Affair - about the mysterious death of prominent Italian MP and
public administrator Enrico Mattei - won the Golden Palm at
Cannes in 1972.
His memorial service and day-long casket viewing at Rome's
Casa del Cinema was attended by luminaries including
Oscar-winning Italian directors Paolo Sorrentino and Giuseppe
Tornatore, and Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, 89, a
friend and former classmate of Rosi's.
Napolitano sent white roses and sat in the front row next
to Rosi's daughter Carolina at the memorial service, where a
large screen projected black and white images of the director's
films.
Italian directors Franco Zeffirelli and Lina Wertmuller,
both contemporaries of Rosi's at 91 and 86 years old
respectively, also attended the service to pay their respects to
the director known for his films focusing on social justice.
"For us magistrates, Rosi was always a very important point
of reference," said Former Italian magistrate and Supreme
Court honorary president Ferdinando Imposimato, 78.
"He told my life story in his film Three Brothers, which
was about a judge fighting against the Red Brigades (leftwing
terrorists)".
"He was also very close to me when my brother was killed by
the Cosa Nostra (Sicilian mafia) in 1983," he said.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
