Anna e le sue sorelle. Turiste straniere in Italia nella cinematografia degli anni Cinquanta

This paper aims to focus on the proposition of modern visual models of female travellers and visitors passing through Italy in the mid-twentieth century in order to identify those characteristics of originality compared to the past but at the same time to trace in these new models echoes and reminiscences of those of past centuries, focusing in particular on four figures of female tourists protagonists of films, released one after the other and set in three different cities of the ‘Boot’ – Rome, Naples, Venice – confirming Italy’s vocation to become the backdrop for similar and paradigmatic stories: the sweet princess Anna of 'Roman Holiday' (William Wyler, 1953), the icy English wife Katherine of 'Journey to Italy' (Roberto Rossellini, 1954), the feisty and solitary American spinster Jane of 'Summertime' (David Lean, 1955), the bombastic Swedish diva Sylvia of 'La dolce vita' (Federico Fellini, 1960).