Dolce Vita
Nowadays we use many words, without knowing the real meaning or where it came from, even if it sounds a little bit different…like paparazzi, sounds Italian , right? But nobody pays attention, we use it very often though. It all started in Rome, shooting Fellini’s world wide famous Dolce Vita in Via Vittorio Veneto…when the movie was released first in Italy, word paparazzi became synonymous with intrusive photographers who chase the stars to get that revealing act on film. The name of the boisterously invasive photographer who accompanies Marcello Mastroianni’s hack in La Dolce Vita, That time, many photojournalists were ready to throw cameras on those ones who called them that way.Why? Because it comes from the Sicilian word for an oversize mosquito, papataceo. It’s more about what mosquito are like, buzzing insect, hovering, darting, stinging, that’s how Fellini explained it, he didn’t mean to emulate the photographer, it was born with the Sweet Life. Very soon, when the movies was released also in USA, the word Paparazzi started to spread around the world, and for any photographer who was chasing the celebrities doing anything, there was Paparazzi name related.
Now Via Veneto, Dolce Vita’s birth place is famous as the most beautiful and rich street in the capital, meeting point for celebrities and also Mafia, that’s a place of parties, gossip and everything that’s famous…and still related to the paparazzi, that explains perfectly the situation back in 50’s when Italian dream was born, these were the years of big movie productions and a time when Italian cinema became known. Those times, paparazzi started go around with Vespas, trying to get some provocative photos out of celebrities, they knew they would have just one chance. So again, thanks to Fellini, there was a new name borne.
