World War II · Film · 1960
Two Women
La ciociara
To escape the bombing of Rome, widowed shopkeeper Cesira takes her twelve-year-old daughter back to her native mountains of Ciociaria, where they wait out the war among refugees, Germans and approaching Allied armies.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 2 places.
Stop 1: San Lorenzo, Rome
After the air raids, Cesira leaves her shop in a neighbour's hands and boards a crowded train south with Rosetta.
Stop 2: Mountains above Fondi, Ciociaria
Key location
Among refugees in the hills, Rosetta grows close to the idealistic Michele, until the front passes through and the road home turns brutal.
What really happened
The first Allied raid on Rome, on 19 July 1943, struck the San Lorenzo district and killed well over a thousand civilians. Many Romans fled to the countryside, and the hills of southern Lazio soon lay just behind the Gustav Line, where the Allies were held for months around Cassino, with German requisitions, forced labour and hunger falling on the villages.
When the French Expeditionary Corps broke through in May 1944, some of its Moroccan goumiers committed mass rapes and killings of civilians in the villages of the Ciociaria, crimes remembered in Italy as the marocchinate. Alberto Moravia based his 1957 novel on the months he spent hiding in the mountains above Fondi, and Sophia Loren's performance won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Where to watch
Checking streaming services…
Full details
- Original title
- La ciociara
- Directed by
- Vittorio De Sica
- Countries
- Italy, France
- Languages
- Italian
- Released
- 1960
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Mediterranean & Africa
- Themes
- Home front
