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Love, ice cream, and the streets and squares of Rome seen on foot, by car and from a motor scooter: how many emotions can Italy inspire in an American adolescent? Lina (Susanna Skaggs), 17 years old, is required to travel to Italy to honour the memory of the mother and lands in an unknown place, too chaotic and messy for her serious, methodical nature.
Along with ice cream, exciting, unfamiliar dishes like spaghetti and maritozzi con la panna, and romantic encounters Rome reveals her chaotic thousand-year grandeur: via della Conciliazione, lungotevere, bridge Vittorio Emanuele II, the bridge and Castel Sant’Angelo are just a few of the shots in the opening sequence.
When Lina lands at Fiumicino airport, Francesca (Valentina Lodovini), her mother’s close friend, is waiting for her and drives her, in slapdash style, to the centre of Rome and her house, in via del Velabro near the Church of St. George. Howard (Owen McDonnell), Francesca’s cousin, shows her the path taken by her mother years earlier, on a visit to Trajan’s market. The view of the Vittoriano and the cupolas of the Eternal City leave Lina spellbound and here she meets Alessandro Albani (Saul Nanni).
The image of ancient Rome, the Colosseum and the Fora, contrasts with the modern structure of the Nuvola, a futuristic conference centre designed by Massimiliano Fuksas in the EUR neighbourhood where Lina watches opera with Alessandro and collide with Lorenzo (Tobia De Angelis) who is there for work and takes her home by motorbike. The night-time trip through Rome includes the Garbatella bridge, via Condotti (Trinità dei Monti in the background), Cestia Pyramid in Ostiense and piazza della Repubblica which appears again later, lit up by night, when Lina and her friend Addie (Anjelika Washington) circle the fountain of the Naiads on a motorbike before finding the way to Termini station.
Having found her mother’s camera, Lina takes photos in piazza del Campidoglio, with Palazzo Senatorio, the Town Hall, on the one side and Palazzo Nuovo, housing the Capitoline Museums on the other.
Alessandro lives in Villa Aurelia, on the highest point of the Janiculum Hill, with a stunning view over the city. When he invites Lina to his home, he has her choose one of his wealthy family’s many cars for a trip to the Salabronewaterfalls in Farnese (Viterbo) where they take a dip and kiss, however the idyll is quickly shattered: they argue and Lina drowns her disappointment sitting at a table in piazza dei Mercanti with a cure of maritozzo con panna and a visit to the fora.
Her father’s identity revealed, Lina goes in search of him in Florence. This offers her the opportunity to explore the city with Lorenzo: the unmissable sights include Ponte Vecchio, Boboli gardens, where they are stunned by the entrance to the grotta del Buontalenti, piazzale Michelangelo, piazza Santa Croce and the alleyways of the centre, borgo Santi Apostoli, and Sant’Ambrogio market, where Lorenzo, aspiring chef, explains the fruit and vegetables on sale, especially the truffles.
As the story comes to an end, there’s time for a visit to Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli, where Lina continues to search for herself in the words of the diary that her mother left for her.
Love, ice cream, and the streets and squares of Rome seen on foot, by car and from a motor scooter: how many emotions can Italy inspire in an American adolescent? Lina (Susanna Skaggs), 17 years old, is required to travel to Italy to honour the memory of the mother and lands in an unknown place, too chaotic and messy for her serious, methodical nature.
Along with ice cream, exciting, unfamiliar dishes like spaghetti and maritozzi con la panna, and romantic encounters Rome reveals her chaotic thousand-year grandeur: via della Conciliazione, lungotevere, bridge Vittorio Emanuele II, the bridge and Castel Sant’Angelo are just a few of the shots in the opening sequence.
When Lina lands at Fiumicino airport, Francesca (Valentina Lodovini), her mother’s close friend, is waiting for her and drives her, in slapdash style, to the centre of Rome and her house, in via del Velabro near the Church of St. George. Howard (Owen McDonnell), Francesca’s cousin, shows her the path taken by her mother years earlier, on a visit to Trajan’s market. The view of the Vittoriano and the cupolas of the Eternal City leave Lina spellbound and here she meets Alessandro Albani (Saul Nanni).
The image of ancient Rome, the Colosseum and the Fora, contrasts with the modern structure of the Nuvola, a futuristic conference centre designed by Massimiliano Fuksas in the EUR neighbourhood where Lina watches opera with Alessandro and collide with Lorenzo (Tobia De Angelis) who is there for work and takes her home by motorbike. The night-time trip through Rome includes the Garbatella bridge, via Condotti (Trinità dei Monti in the background), Cestia Pyramid in Ostiense and piazza della Repubblica which appears again later, lit up by night, when Lina and her friend Addie (Anjelika Washington) circle the fountain of the Naiads on a motorbike before finding the way to Termini station.
Having found her mother’s camera, Lina takes photos in piazza del Campidoglio, with Palazzo Senatorio, the Town Hall, on the one side and Palazzo Nuovo, housing the Capitoline Museums on the other.
Alessandro lives in Villa Aurelia, on the highest point of the Janiculum Hill, with a stunning view over the city. When he invites Lina to his home, he has her choose one of his wealthy family’s many cars for a trip to the Salabronewaterfalls in Farnese (Viterbo) where they take a dip and kiss, however the idyll is quickly shattered: they argue and Lina drowns her disappointment sitting at a table in piazza dei Mercanti with a cure of maritozzo con panna and a visit to the fora.
Her father’s identity revealed, Lina goes in search of him in Florence. This offers her the opportunity to explore the city with Lorenzo: the unmissable sights include Ponte Vecchio, Boboli gardens, where they are stunned by the entrance to the grotta del Buontalenti, piazzale Michelangelo, piazza Santa Croce and the alleyways of the centre, borgo Santi Apostoli, and Sant’Ambrogio market, where Lorenzo, aspiring chef, explains the fruit and vegetables on sale, especially the truffles.
As the story comes to an end, there’s time for a visit to Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli, where Lina continues to search for herself in the words of the diary that her mother left for her.
There is a great deal of food in this film which celebrates not only Roman cooking but all of Italy’s food-related excellence.
Lina’s first taste of Italian food is a plate of spaghetti alla puttanesca, a classic pasta dish from Naples made with a tomato base, olive oil, garlic, olives, capers and oregano (the Lazio variant adds anchovy). The dish is accompanied by Chianti, a wine originally from Tuscany.
At a reception at the Nuvola conference centre, Alessandro orders glasses of Sangiovese for himself and Lina. At the end of the evening, before taking Lina home, Lorenza has her try maritozzi which in Rome are brioche filled with cream.
For a meal at his house, the aspiring chef prepares a menu that features a barley pesto salad, lasagna cupcakes, fried courgettes with a truffle, caper sauce and his grandmother’s wonderful pistacchio ice cream.
Having come to Rome to help her friend, Addie goes crazy for a Sicilian cannolo in addition to eating many, many ice creams.
Netflix
