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No one can’t go on without visiting Via Veneto, an open-air museum of beautiful memories that, thanks to Federico Fellini’s film “La Dolce Vita” (1960), remains an historical memory of an era always linked to this avenue, as well as also happen for other films in cinema history.
On the way you can visit the ancient Capuchin Friars ossuary at the Church of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, or you can stop and go shopping between the windows of the trendy shops.
In addition to the traditional and more than famous cafe on the Via Veneto, you can also find the most varied cuisine, from the local, passing by oriental, to the most modern pub-restaurants such as the Hard Rock Cafe where the memorabilia of celebrities from the music and film world are now the ornaments of a place that offers pretty American dishes to a clientele not entirely in search of traditional cuisine. Anyway, the flavours and local odours can be found already in the nearby streets.
Walking along Via Veneto the 50s will comes to mind, when the avenue was day and night crowded of personalities in search of fame and gossip, with the hope to have the chance to star in Cinecitta or to appear on some successful magazine.
The images of the magazines of that time show the crowded tables of Doney, near to the Excelsior Hotel. In the middle of a flowerbed, surrounded by guests sitting in the sun and entertained by a street musician, a flashy sign in English asks to “do not leave unattended vehicles” and “park cars in supervised spaces”.
Doney, place that still worth a visit and a tempting appetizer, yesterday like today is especially frequented by foreign tourists who were staying at the Excelsior Hotel.
On the opposite side, near Rosati’s tables, was populated by italian actors, intellectuals and politicians. Via Veneto hosted the notable presence of the American cinema world, which already in that years, was watching Cinecittà.
Via Veneto, with hotels, cafes and its international dimension, in that years welcomed all the Hollywood producers, who chose as the scene of their meetings the Italian way. However, that street was not the only center of interest in the artistic and cultural world of Rome.
Via Veneto became a symbol of Rome in the evening, like as Via Condotti for fashion and shoppping.
From Porta Pinciana to Piazza Barberini you cannot imagine anything without thinking to “La Dolce Vita” by Federico Fellini. Certainly today there is no longer hope to meet Anita Ekberg walking barefoot, or to see Cardarelli, Guttuso, Pasolini, Moravia or Calvino sitting at a table and chatting in front of an aperitif, but the charm and Via Veneto’s beauty beauty remains, and for a moment you can relive the excitement of that epoch and hear the echoes of noises and voices of the nights Roman peoples of the past.