Rome, Open City – 1945

Rome, Open City – 1945

Rome, Open City is a movie by Roberto Rossellini. Starring an amazing Anna Magnani, it is considered a masterpiece of world cinema and neorealism. The movie shows the suffering and courage of Italy during the Nazi occupation. The protagonists are a priest, a commoner and a communist engineer who will try to resist the violence of the German invaders.

The film highlighted the contradictions that arose in that dramatic historical moment, between the need to save oneself, the horror of war and the attempt to understand where reason was based. The film highlighted the contradictions that arose in that dramatic historical moment, between the need to save oneself, the horror of war and the attempt to understand where reason was based. Numerous scenes were shot at the Pigneto, such as the last one, the most evocative, in which the protagonist Pina (an extraordinary Anna Magnani) is killed while running behind the truck that takes away her husband, captured by the Germans.

The scene took place in via Raimondo Montecuccoli, in the last palace before the railway, where the protagonist lived. Another location is Piazza di Spagna where you can still see the guesthouse from which a partisan, surprised by the Nazis escaped on the rooftops of the Spanish Embassy.