ITALIAN VACATION

Genre: home movie

Year Published: 1950s

Description:

This 1950s color home movie begins in the Italian or possibly French countryside, showing picturesque towns and farmland. The majority of the filming is done in Rome however, featuring famous sights such as the Colosseum and St. Peter’s Basilica. The focus throughout the film is on different churches in Rome. It ends with a large gather at St. Peter’s Square where the Pope, most likely Pope Pius XII, is carried around on a chair by admiring crowds.

0:16 overview of farmland from a rural road, 0:50 people leaving the church in a small town in Italy, 1:24 a town as seen from the distance, 1:48 overview of an Italian town, 2:03 grape vines for wine on their fields, 2:52 a view of Orvieto from the distance, 3:50 cityscape of Rome, 4:00 the Colosseum in Rome, 4:30 St. Peter’s Basilica as seen from a distance, 4:39 Palazzo delle Assicurazioni Generali, 5:00 the Roman Forum ruins, 5:34 Arch of Titus, 5:43 Arch of Constantine, 5:49 the Via dei Fori Imperiali, 5:57 the inside of the Colosseum, 6:32 a group of people speaking to a priest, 7:10 St. Peter’s Basilica and square from different angles, 8:13 crowds queuing to enter the Basilica, 8:49 the Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore, 9:08 people in front of the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, 10:03 Statue of St. Paul in front of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside of the Walls, 10:43 St. Peter’s Basilica and the square, 12:00 huge crowds in front of the St. Peter’s Basilica, 12:34 the Pope, presumably Pius XII sitting on a chair and being carried around cheering crowds,