Dolce Vita Confidential

Fellini, Loren, Pucci, Paparazzi, and the Swinging High Life of 1950s Rome

By: Shawn Levy

Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan

From the ashes of World War II, Rome was reborn as the epicenter of film, fashion, creative energy, tabloid media, and bold-faced libertinism that made "Italian" a global synonym for taste, style, and flair. A confluence of cultural contributions created a bright, burning moment in history: it was the heyday of fashion icons such as Pucci and Brioni. Rome's huge movie studio, Cinecitta, attracted a dizzying array of stars, from Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner, and Frank Sinatra to that stunning and combustible couple, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

Fashionistas, exiles, moguls, and martyrs flocked to Rome hoping for a chance to experience and indulge in the glow of old money, new stars, fast cars, wanton libidos, and brazen news photographers. The scene was captured nowhere better than in Federico Fellini's masterpiece, La Dolce Vita, starring Marcello Mastroianni and the Swedish bombshell Anita Ekberg.

Gossipy, colorful, and richly informed, Dolce Vita Confidential re-creates Rome's stunning ascent with vivid and compelling tales of its glitterati and artists, down to every last outrageous detail of the city's magnificent transformation.

©2016 Shawn Levy (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Levy's spirited history is nothing less than a love letter to Rome's luxurious, sensational past." ( Kirkus)

Learned tons of interesting things about Italy

Well written in an interesting way that makes a nonfiction book is fascinating as a novel

Great book, awful narration.

I loved this book - it is highly detailed and really evokes the feeling of Rome during a very particular time in it's modern history. However, the narrator was torture to listen to. His delivery sounded like a TV commercial announcer from the 1950's. I don't know why Audible has so many titles with him narrating.
Might be more pleasant to just read the print version........

Very entertaining

For me this was a fun learning experience. The book inspired me to watch a few films— including La Dolce Vida — that I’ve heard about my whole life but had never before seen.

This book was written for someone like me

Sometimes you discover a book that you realize was written just for you. No one in my family or among my friends would like this book, but I loved it. I have always been obsessed with post-war Italian cinema... the greats like La Dolce Vita and Bicycle Thief, to name a few. This book has made these movies much richer to me because now I know the whole backstory to what was going on in Italy during the war and after. It's really a very fascinating story of how Italy got its groove back after the war. Not only is this book about the film industry there, but it discusses a lot about the advent of popular Italian fashion... everything from the creation of ski clothes to some of the major fashion houses. It's kind of crazy to see it starting just as regular people modeling clothes in their homes to rich American investors. I really found this book just fascinating and it has made La Dolce Vita and other of my favorite films so much richer. Thanks.

An interesting read about Italian cinema

I really enjoyed this book. I had seen several of the films covered but many years ago. The book puts these films and others, in the specific context of their time. I have decided to go back and view these films again. I withheld a fifth star because the author has a tendency to list names ad nauseam which slows down the story. The reader has an excellent Italian accent when saying names or sentences in Italian.