Cinema in Milan.

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Milan is the backdrop to some of Italy’s finest classic cinema and modern drama. Book your private guided tour now

Comerio Films, one of the first Italian studios, was founded here in 1907. A good number of movies has been filmed in the city, bringing its virtues and vices to the silver screen.  I have listed below some of them in a chronological order, from a black-and-white Milan to nowadays, while some corresponding pictures flow above.

Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores is also based in Milan and has been a protagonist of Milan off-theatre scene in the 80’s. He debuted as a film director with Kamikazen an ensemble comedy about underachieving actors. Lately he returned to film in Milan for Happy Family (2010), a The Royal Tenenbaums inspired comedy that includes some pretty images of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and the Duomo, nice city centre and Navigli shots, and a scene filmed in Sarpi neighborhood (Chinatown). Book now

• The Pleasure Garden is a 1925 British-German silent drama film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in his directorial debut.

• Gli uomini, che mascalzoni., What scoundrels men are!,  by Mario Camerini, 1932: classic romantic comedy picturing working class love story in industrious 30’s Milan. It shows beautiful shots of the city, including great images of iconic Milanese streetcars. It features Vittorio De Sica, soon-to-be one of the greatest Italian directors, as the main character. The soundtracks, Parlami d’amore Mariù (Mary, speak about love to me) performed by De Sica, became one classic song of Italian music.

• Miracle in Milan, Miracolo a Milano, was filmed in Milan in 1951. This heartwarming and critically acclaimed film belongs to the genre of Neorealism, a much celebrated postwar genre of Italian cinema characterised by stories set among the working classes and often filmed in real poverty-stricken locations. In the year of its release received numerous awards, including the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize.

• Rocco and His Brothers, Rocco e i Suoi Fratelli, 1960. Director Luchino Visconti expertly weaves the individual narratives of each brother into a tense and emotionally charged story about love, family and the reality of migrant life in postwar Milan. Top ’60s sex symbol Alain Delon received critical acclaim for his portrayal as Rocco.

• Il Posto, Job for life, 1961, directed by Ermanno Olmi, is an example of Italian Neorealism. In July 2018, it was selected to be screened in the Venice Classics section at the 75th Venice International Film Festival.

• Theorem, Teorema, is a 1968 Italian allegorical film written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini and starring Terence Stamp, Laura Betti, Silvana Mangano.  In this film, an upper-class Milanese family is introduced to, and then abandoned by, a divine force. Themes include the timelessness of divinity and the spiritual corruption of the bourgeoisie.

• Sunflower, I girasoli, is a 1970 Italian drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica, starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni. It was the first Italian film to be dubbed and screened at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

• All Screwed Up, Tutto a posto e niente in ordine, also known as Everything Ready, Nothing Works, is a 1974 Italian comedy-drama film written and directed by Lina Wertmüller.

• The Tree of Wooden Clogs, L’albero degli zoccoli, 1978, written and directed by Ermanno Olmi. The film concerns Lombard peasant life in a cascina (farmstead) of the late 19th century. It won fourteen awards including the Palme d’or at Cannes and the César Award for Best Foreign Film.

• Made in Milan is a 1990 short documentary film directed by Martin Scorsese about fashion designer Giorgio Armani. It was Scorsese’s first short film since the 1967 The Big Shave. Made in Milan predates the current landscape of fashion films.

• A Month by the Lake is a 1995 romantic comedy film starring Vanessa Redgrave, Edward Fox, Uma Thurman and directed by John Irvin.

• Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, 2002.  American epic space-opera film directed by George Lucas. A wonderful villa was used for the lake retreat scenes with computer-generated imagery used in place of the building’s true exterior.

• Ocean’s Twelve, 2004. American heist comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The second installment of the sequel Ocean’s Eleven (2001). The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Andy García, Julia Roberts, Don Cheadle, and Bernie Mac.

• Casino Royale,  is a 2006 spy film directed by Martin Campbell. It is the first film to star Daniel Craig as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond.

• I Am Love, Io sono l’amore, is a 2009 Italian romantic drama film directed by Luca Guadagnino, set in Milan. Tilda Swinton plays the wife of a rich industrialist who has an affair with a chef. It is the first installment in Guadagnino’s self-described trilogy of desire, preceding A Bigger Splash (2015) and Call Me by Your Name (2017).

• The International, 2009. It’s an action thriller film starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts.

• Murder Mystery, 2019. It’s an American mystery comedy film directed by Kyle Newacheck  Film stars: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, and Luke Evans. Locations Lake Como and Milan (where most of the scenes set in Monaco were actually shot) also using vehicles and uniforms of the Carabinieri.

• House of Gucci, 2021, is a biographical crime film directed by Ridley Scott. It stars Lady Gaga in the role of Patrizia Reggiani, who was tried and convicted of orchestrating the assassination of her ex-husband and former head of the Gucci fashion house Maurizio Gucci, portrayed by Adam Driver. It also stars Al Pacino, Jared Leto, Jack Huston, Reeve Carney, Salma Hayek, and Jeremy Irons.

How about visiting the city through the camera eye of the world’s top filmmakers?  Book your private guided tour now

Minimum duration: 4 hours for each bespoken private guided tour.