Vittorio De Sica directed the 1970 historical drama film The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Il giardino dei Finzi Contini). Ugo Pirro and Vittorio Bonicelli’s script adapts Italian Jewish novelist Giorgio Bassani’s semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, published in 1962, about the life of an upper-class Jewish family in Ferrara during the Fascist era. Lino Capolicchio, Dominique Sanda, Helmut Berger, Romolo Valli, and Fabio Testi in his breakout role star in the film.
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, an Italian production with West German sponsorship, won the Golden Bear at the 21st Berlin International Film Festival. It earned great reviews from international critics and won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1972, as well as a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Rotten Tomatoes has given the picture a perfect score.