Rosaria Carpinelli Consulenze Editoriali

Giovanni Diotallevi was sixteen when his father broke the big news to him. He had secured an interview for him with a high-ranking official, an important figure. If he could make a good impression, the doors would open for Giovanni to that marvelous place the Duce had built at the end of the Tuscolana—a small metropolis destined to produce films that would enchant the entire world. For him, there would be no more open-air markets, no more crates to unload, and no more back-breaking labor: he would be able to serve food and drink to the country’s biggest stars, in that magical place set to open in the spring. It was still unfinished, but it already had a name that sounded like a promise: Cinecittà. So, on a cold morning in February 1937, Giovanni hops on his bike, rides through a Rome still asleep, and passes through the grand columns of the city of cinema. He meets Franco Romoli, the bar manager, and for the first time steps behind the counter. There he will become friends with Marcello Mastroianni and Fellini, grow up and grow old, start a family, and witness half a century unfold: the war, the displaced, the reconstruction, and the new prosperity. He will meet the great Italian and international stars during the years of “Hollywood on the Tiber,” until television brings that extraordinary adventure to a crisis.

Walter Veltroni once again demonstrates his ability to tell the story of history through lives that are both ordinary and extraordinary—as all human lives are. Striking a balance between meticulous historical reconstruction and literary invention, *Il bar di Cinecittà* is a magnificent historical and family novel. Ironic and poignant, sweet and bitter, it captures the magic, the contradictions, and the humanity of a place unique in the world: the dream factory known as Cinecittà.

Publication date: 05.05.2026
Publisher: HarperCollins
Country: Italy