The Oscars are almost here!

Any guesses on the translation of the title?

The Academy Awards are this Sunday, and (master of the segue that I am,) I thought I would take on a question that is heard in many of our locations: “So, just what is the story with the Italian movie posters, anyway?”

When our founder, Dorene Centioli-McTigue opened up our first pizzeria in the University District, she thought that the walls were, well, a bit bare.

Originally, she hung some photos she had taken of uncooked pasta. After a couple of years she felt that they just didn’t really fit in the restaurant anymore, and started to look around to see what she could replace them with. During a trip to Los Angeles she saw some Italian movie posters in a shop. She really liked them, but they were pretty expensive, so she thought that she would look for some the next time she went to Italy. While visiting Rome, she did not have a lot of luck getting posters from any of the theaters, but she was directed to a video shop near Campo Fiori, not too far from the Piazza Navona. The owner, Marco, was a real fan of Hollywood and had quite a bit of movie memorabilia. Dorene explained what she was looking for and he agreed to start collecting them for her. She would pick them up and bring them back on subsequent trips. It just kind of grew from there.

They are quite the conversation starter, that is for sure! It is always fun to try to figure out how different the American title is from the Italian one. Enjoy the Oscars!